Trigger warning: Very brief mention of thoughts of suicide.
Mabel followed her Minute Men back through the doorway into the TVA prep area from their assignment. No Variant's this time, which lifted her heart a little. Only reset charges making a mess, which were fairly easy to clean up. She slapped her team on the back and twisted her time stick to shut it off.
"Good work," she said. "Reports on my desk in an hour?"
They nodded and walked to their lockers to store their helmets.
Mabel ran up the stairs to her desk. She just wanted to go home and think, but there would be paperwork to collect, her own reports to file. And she was worried for Loki and Mobius. This was obviously the other Loki Variant's work. Some sort of distraction.
She sat heavily in her desk chair again. Another memory surfaced, and she took in a sharp breath.
...
Sigyn watched the communication from Loki once more, the yellow projection of his form shimmering above her com device.
"Darling,
Something's about to happen on Muspelheim, and we won't be able to get back through the Rainbow Bridge. There are secret doorways in Asgard. Places that are hidden that only I know of. There is a gate on the outskirts of the city. We need you to open it with your powers. You'll need to climb…"
She watched it over and over again, her heart racing. She'd have to leave the Valkyrie order to get there, which was forbidden for her first year. She'd be committing treason, but she already knew she would help him. Her husband.
She closed her com device and put on her golden helmet. She checked outside her tent, the stars blazing above her. It was enough to light the whole camp. She snuck out of the tent toward the flying horse pen. She'd bonded with one that would be hers for the rest of time.
"Bergljot!" she whispered loudly.
Bergljot stamped in the dirt and made her way to the edge of the pen.
"Hello, my dear," said Sigyn. She untied her bridle and strapped her saddle on. Patting Bergljot's nose, she mounted the saddle and whispered in her ear. The horse spread its wings and took off toward Asgard.
...
Mabel shook her head. She had lived so much life, it was overwhelming. Once Loki found the other Variant and they were in irons, they would put their heads together and… More of the same memory surged…
...
Sigyn dismounted Bergljot. She looked around the barren mountainside. There was nothing, no doorway. She checked the communication again. It had to be here, these were the coordinates. He said she'd need to use her powers.
She closed her eyes. Holding her hands in front of her she pulled the energy from her core. She could feel the power growing hotter in her hands. The blue light of Victory coursed through her limbs and settled in her fingers. She spread her arms and the door in the rock opened.
She panted as the opening grew larger. A blast of cold air hit her. She had just lowered her arms when something large and blue rushed her from the doorway, knocking her to the ground, and then all was black.
...
"What happened to me?" she said aloud. A few managers looked at her from their desks. She couldn't stay here, her job be damned. Paperwork didn't matter. She was too antsy, and she missed Loki. She hoped that he'd be back. Maybe if he held her hand she could see more, and he could help her figure out what had happened. She warmed thinking about their fingers intertwining.
She stood up and decided to pace headquarters to find them.
"Did you hear?" asked an analyst in the next desk over to another manager. Mabel stopped to inspect something on her desk so she could listen.
"C-20 is back," they continued. "The Variant messed her up so bad."
"I was sure she was dead," said the other.
"It's so crazy how close the Variant came to the Timekeepers chamber. It just goes to show Loki's can't be trusted."
Mabel felt lightheaded. More of her memories pushed their way in…
...
Sigyn woke to a bright light, her head splitting. She was laying on a soft velvet sofa,
She rubbed her forehead and sat up. She was facing a white wall. All the walls were white, stark. There was nothing else in the room. She turned and saw a yellow grid on the fourth.
Prison walls. She was in a cell. Surely this was a dream? Her heart dropped as sheer panic set in. She jumped up from the sofa, running to the grid and placed her hands on the sheer barrier. Across from her were fearsome aliens, the most dangerous predators in the galaxy. And she was imprisoned with them. Her gold helmet clattered to the ground.
...
Mabel gasped, her hand over her heart. "Where are Mobius and L1130?" she asked panicked.
Both agents jumped as though they hadn't seen her. Their eyes darted back and forth. They had to know about her and Loki from those looks. They were gazing at her with a mixture of foreboding and fear.
"Tell me!"
"You should go see Mobius," one of them said.
Mabel rushed to the exit and ran down the hall to the elevator to take her to Mobius's desk.
….
He wasn't there. Loki wasn't either and a sinking dread started to pool in the pit of her stomach. Pacing through the analyst cubicles, all she got were stares, and whispers. She left the office heading toward the theaters.
She rounded the corner in the hallway and there was Mobius, talking with his Minute Men. Mabel bit the end of her fingernail. No Loki. Her heart started to race.
Mobius glanced away from his men, his mouth pursed and face stricken. When he saw Mabel he flinched. She knew then. Loki was gone.
A memory pushed its way in. The completed piece. It hit her hard and brought her to her knees.
...
Sigyn threw the sofa against the cell wall, again and again. She screamed, cried. Waited for someone, anyone to hear her and tell her what her crime was.
"How are you holding up my dear?" asked a voice from behind her. A voice she loved, a voice that she knew intimately. But one that was now filled with a cold distance that didn't make sense. She whirled around to Loki standing in the middle of the room. She ran to him, running right through him, his body shimmering with green light.
"What's going on? Why am I here?" she asked.
He smiled then, and the handsomeness was replaced with some other demeanor. A twisted and triumphant grin that sent a shiver down her spine.
"I tried to reason on your behalf darling, but they wouldn't hear me."
"What, what are you talking about?"
"When you opened the portal to the Jotunheim and let the Frost Giants through."
Sigyn shook her head. "I didn't… You said it was Muspelheim…"
She searched his face. That face that she'd known since she was a child. The mischievous boy that stole her heart and her love. She was watching that face change, the pretense dropping.
Finally he sighed. "I needed someone to take the fall," he said.
"Why? Why my love?"
"I'm sorry my dear. What I'm owed is bigger than us. Bigger than you."
Sigyn put her hands on her stomach and dropped to her knees.
"I would have done anything for you," she breathed.
"I know, which is why I knew you wouldn't mind this."
"We're married, you're my husband."
"And now that the light of Victory flows through your veins, it's bound to my endeavors. I have you to thank. The throne will be mine because of you. I know it doesn't make sense, but I love you my dear."
Sigyn pinched her eyes closed as overwhelming pain washed over her body. She couldn't think. "This isn't love," she cried.
"I'll come again once I take the throne and free you. The Valkyrie can't take you back, but you could still be by my side."
She knew in the depths of her soul he was lying. He'd leave her here to rot. "I never want to see you again," she whispered, holding her stomach.
"You're being childish."
"Please don't do this. It's not too late," she jumped up and pled with him. "You could confess. You're a prince, Odin would be lenient…"
"You know nothing!" he cried, his voice echoing through the cell. "You, who believes in the good in everyone, your sunshine bores me. The world is cruel, and people cruel in it."
"So you're punishing me for believing in you? For my trust and love?"
Loki grimaced at her. "Don't presume you know me. Goodbye my dear."
He vanished in a shimmer of green.
The weight of betrayal pressed on Sigyn like the entire palace had dropped on her chest. This was surely a nightmare. But she could taste the blood in her mouth from where she'd bitten her tongue with her husband's confession. This was very real. She looked over at the sofa and crawled over to it. She broke off one of the legs from the bottom and stared at the sharp end. She pointed it at her stomach. This felt right. She didn't want to live anymore, she wasn't supposed to.
Something made her stop. She looked at it again. Even though she loved him still, he wasn't worth this. Not her life. She set the leg on the ground and buried her head in her arms and cried.
She heard a strange noise like metal reverberating.
"There's our Variant," said a voice behind her. She whirled around. A man with gray hair, and a mustache stood behind her in a brown Midgardian suit, with several people in black.
"What is this?" she asked wiping her eyes.
"I'm afraid you'll have to come with us," he said.
Sigyn looked at him, the broken sofa, the weapon she'd fashioned from it, the cell door. Anything was better than this. She stood, and the man picked up her golden helmet from the ground.
"After you," he said, and followed her through the door.
...
Warm hands pulled Mabel her up by her arms. She blinked as she looked into Mobius's concerned face.
"Kiddo! You alright?" He guided her to the wall.
"Where's Loki?" she asked gasping.
Mobius looked away.
"Where is he?"
"He ran off. With the other Variant. I'm sorry."
Mabel's world dropped out from under her. They weren't destined to be together. He was destined to betray and abandon her. Forever.
