Trigger warning: some descriptions of domestic violence.


Mabel pushed herself up with her arms, shaking. Her back cracked, her body drained from holding Loki in her mind for so long.

"You choose him over me?" said a voice near the fire. The green energy hit her once more, forcing her across the floor, hitting the pillar again.

Mabel groaned. Her muscles throbbed. "What do you care?" she said gasping, pulling herself upright as best she could. "Just let me take him, and I'll leave you here. I'll never think of you again."

He took slow strides to where she lay and stood over her gazing down. His hand caressed her face and she flinched away. "I won't be second best. Not to Thor, not to any king in the Void, and certainly not to him."

Mabel rolled and sat up on her knees, looking fiercely into his eyes. "You're not second best to him."

He smiled.

"You're not even in his league."

He sneered and bent down, his hand around her throat. "You don't matter. You shouldn't matter. Why couldn't you have stayed dead? Why do you torture me with your accusations? Your eyes pierce me."

She struggled for breath, trying to work her fingers under his grip. "You could change, make a new choice," she gasped.

"I don't need to change."

She felt the light inside sparking, even as her vision was growing dim. She closed her eyes as it pulsed deep and bright. If she could just concentrate it…

A beam of blue light pushed out from her chest, and he blasted backward, skidding across the smooth concrete floor. She coughed, holding her neck. She drew her sword, heaving it up, trying to gather her strength and her breath.

He leapt up from the ground and pulled his daggers.

"No one can have you," he said. He came at her slashing, and she matched his blows. They reached a stalemate in the air, their blades locked, his face close to hers. "No one."

She could see the differences in both Loki's faces now. There was no softness here, no tenderness. No regard for anyone but himself in this face.

"I don't belong to anyone anymore, not the TVA, and definitely not to you," she said. She circled her blade and slashed at his face drawing blood in a shallow gash along his cheek.

He cried out and staggered back.

He hurled both daggers at her, the first bouncing off her sword. But the second blade went straight into her in the shoulder. Her vision went whit hot. She yelped and hit the ground. Piercing fire lit her whole arm. She was so weakened already, she couldn't even reach up to the hilt to pull it out. Her eyes went hazy. She could tell she was passing out but fought to stay awake. She must be dreaming now. Something was happening above her.

Two Loki's, blurred in her eyesight, one in lime green, the other in his TVA uniform. They hacked and slashed at each other. Her Loki. Spinning, fighting with everything he had. She couldn't see them anymore.

"You'll never hurt her again," she heard Loki say.

Her head was being lifted by gentle hands, Loki calling her name. She could just feel his lips press into her cheek, his warm breath in her ear.

"Sigyn…"

Then all was black.

The gentle strokes of her hands on his face made his heart wake, beat faster. Could it really be her? He forced his eyes open. Above him was an angel. Large brown eyes, lit with concern and love. A gold halo around her head. Long white-blonde hair, braided, the end soft against his cheek.

"Sigyn."

"I'm here. Oh Loki, I'm here."

She was warmth itself, and it radiated off of her onto his face. His forehead pulsed with fire, but he was ice cold.

Another drip onto his skin, sizzling into his body.

He heard her scrambling below him, then she was over him again, holding a bowl above, catching the vile liquid. He'd never felt so loved in his entire life.

"Darling, hang on. I'll find some way to free…"

As the last word came from her lips, a blast of green energy pushed past his face, knocking Sigyn away from him. He raised his head to see his counterpart with his hands in front of him. A green glow radiated from them with a wild pinched smirk on his face.

Loki fought against the chains, his head aching, but his brain beginning to wake up. He pulled, summoning everything he hand in him. The shackles began to give.

He could hear him talking, chiding her. Comprehension began to dawn. This was her Loki, the one from her timeline. The one who'd betrayed and hurt her.

"You're not even in his league," she said.

A burst of passion ignited his heart. She still believed in him. He strained, pulling the magic from his beating heart, concentrating it on his left wrist. The bond dissipated in green smoke.

"You could change, make a new choice," she wheezed.

My god, she was gasping, the blighter was choking her! His anger burst out from him, red and hot. He held his left hand over the last shackle, fighting to concentrate, as visions of killing the other Variant for hurting her raced through his brain.

The bond was beginning to dissolve like smoke, when a blast of light blew his lime green counterpart back. Loki's chains completely disappeared. He slid down off the boulder, his knees hit the floor. He pulled every strengthening spell he knew, filling his body and muscles with purpose, green glowing around him.

He stood, two blades conjured in his hands while small golden horns wrapped around his forehead, creating a conduit for his magic.

"I don't belong to you anymore," she said.

A blade sang through the air, and his counterpart stumbled back, holding his cheek. Then quicker than he could comprehend, the lesser Loki hurled both blades straight at Sigyn. He heard a clang as one bounced off her blade and then her grunt, as she crumpled to the ground.

"No!" screamed Loki. Adrenalin burst into his veins, and he leapt forward, hacking and slashing. His counterpart smiled and conjured a second dagger. He swiped at Loki's stomach, ripping through the TVA's shirt. He retaliated, cut him in the arm and grabbed his hand. Twisting it around, he leveraged his double's body, about to pull him over his shoulder.

The Variant rotated, kicked him in the leg and Loki stumbled back. His twin plunged his blade downward. Loki caught his wrist in the air and stuck his knife into his counterpart's stomach.

"You'll never hurt her again," he said.

Blood oozed out onto his hand from the wound, his knife to the hilt. His double's face confused, not understanding. Then a hatred so overwhelming passed over his face. One with cold malice and no remorse. The mirror of his own abhorrence of the things he'd held dear to him before he was betrayed by his family stole his breath. He felt the blackness drift away as he chose to let it go.

The lime green Loki crashed to the floor.

He left the stilled Variant and dropped his daggers.

"Sigyn."

She lay limp on the ground, a dagger sticking out of her shoulder. His stomach plummeted.

"No, no, no…"

He fell to the floor next to her, lifted her head, kissed her cheek. Her head lolled in his hands.