One late night, Loki walked through the portals to head back to the oasis. He didn't need light see the path; it was ingrained into muscle memory. The roof of his home was outlined by the stars. He stopped to take it in. Breathtaking view. He smirked. This was one of the reasons he built a home here. He headed inside his home; the familiar aroma grazed his nostrils.
It took him years to build this home. Sneaking off every chance he could to build it piece by piece. He had cut down the wood in the area where the house was built, but he had to get the rest. Loki disguised himself as a carpenter to buy items. He read books on architect design, plumbing, tiling, and all other building genres he could get his hands on.
In between building, he would make his garden as well. It was more work but it brought a different sense of joy to him. He transplanted some trees to create an orchard. The weather didn't change much. He always had bountiful harvests.
The waterfall added a nice finishing touch. It was a relaxing sound. The were creeks that fed off of the water at the bottom. One of them led to a hidden pond near one of the corners. Loki brought in fish so they could keep the algae down but he had fish to eat as well.
Loki glided his hands across the walls and the furniture. Each furniture was brought in from different regions he liked. He had to make sure the design matched the house he built. He wanted something sturdy, that would last long but also had intricate details. Simple but elegant. He stopped at one door that one wasn't there before. He pushed it open to see toys scattered, dressers, two beds with two children sleeping in them, and one crib. He pushed the door open farther, keeping his footsteps quiet to head over to them.
He made sure the blankets were tucked around them. They slept soundly. Loki smirked. They didn't even stir at him. He walked back out without waking them and closed the door. He headed to his master chamber. That was his secret place inside of a secret. There were hidden features, secret doors, and a large bathing area in the back.
Loki made a wall just for his weapons and armor. It was a trophy wall. The bed was the best thing. It was comfortable. In between building and decorating, he would nap on his bed. He couldn't leave it at times. It was just right.
Sleeping in his bed was the most beautiful woman in all of the universe. He sat on the edge on her side. He pushed the hair off of her face. His fingers grazed her cheek. She let out a murmur as she readjusted herself. She still didn't wake. Loki started to lean in for a kiss, tears swelling in his eyes. She was lovely, sleeping soundly. A tear escaped, dropping onto her cheek.
This woke Sigyn up. Loki started to straighten himself. She woke up in confusion, thinking one of the kids tried to sleep with her in bed. Her eyesight adjusted to see Loki was over her. She saw the strained look. Sigyn jolted up, cupping his face with both hands.
"Oh, Loki," her voice soothed him. "Is something wrong?" He froze by her touch. Narrowing her eyes to see him in the dark. She could see more that he was paler than usual. She pushed strands of his black hair back. "Everything's alright." Her voice was comforting. "You look like you had a nightmare." She brushed a strand behind his ear. He stared at her pensive forehead, as she worried for him.
He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was enchanting in the dark with the bit of night sky that shone on her. His breath caught as she gave him a loving look. He started to lean in again. Sigyn smirked. She was waiting for him to kiss her. He stared at those lips ready to be kissed. He was almost there, as her eyes were closed and lips waiting. He stopped as soon as he felt a sharp pain to the neck. He jerked back, the pain still following him.
"That's enough," a voice warned. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. That was his voice warning him but he didn't speak. He followed up the arm to see who exactly was holding the dagger to his neck, in his home, his secret oasis.
Sigyn opened her eyes as she heard him speak with killing intent. Sigyn saw Loki angered and confused. She saw the glint of the blue dagger she made upon his neck. Sigyn followed up the dagger to see Loki standing. She looked back to the Loki sitting before her then back to the standing Loki. This wasn't his usual tricks. What was going on?
She lit the candles on the side table. The light showed the scene before her. The standing Loki was in his green tunic and leather pants and the Loki sitting down was in his full leather attire but he looked like he was just beat up. Sigyn saw he head the same look when she first met him again, after the battle in New York. She looked back up to the standing Loki.
There was such a difference. The Loki sitting on her bed looked afraid, pale, beaten, and had just enough relief in his eyes as if he escaped death. The torment of what he had been through had eaten at him. She couldn't believe this was really him. It had been a long time since then. She wanted to hug him and tell him that its all over now. He was going to be okay. No one was going to torture him again. No one was going to threaten him, brainwash him, slowly take away his resolve. He was going to get better. He was going to live on.
The Loki standing with his long hair, experienced movement, confidence of his abilities, kingly presence, and the air of hostility, protecting his territory. This Loki went through so much and didn't let anything stop him. He did want he wanted and prevailed. He held hardly any fear in his eyes. He had grown so much from the Loki he had been when he fought against the Avengers in New York.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" The Loki standing mocked with a tinge of threats. "Placing your fingers all over the house and furniture, tucking in the children, and trying to make a move on my wife!" He pressed the dagger into his neck.
The sitting Loki let out a laugh. "You sound like me but you're not me." He grabbed the arm, twisting it as he got up to face the imposter who was pretending to be him. "Now, tell me who you really are!" He brought a dagger to his neck. Both Loki's had a dagger to each other's throats.
"You think I'm the imposter?" The tunic Loki scoffed. "You came into my oasis! How did you find your way in? Did you go through a portal, perhaps?"
Sigyn slipped out of bed, watching the two.
"Your oasis?!" The fully clothed Loki mocked. "This is my oasis! You've done enough damage, marrying the one woman who could possibly love me as I am and having her bear your children!" He seethed, drawing his face closer to him. "I won't hesitate to kill you."
"Neither shall I," the tunic Loki wasn't going to back down.
Sigyn stared at the two. This was getting nowhere. She slipped into the fully clothed Loki. She traced his memories to show that he had just been captured by the Avengers in New York. He was tugging along behind Thor when Tony had a heart attack. Thor focused on Tony, along with everyone else. While that happened Loki grabbed the Tesseract and disappeared.
She slipped into the tunic Loki. He was trying to figure out who could have been disguising themselves as him. Maybe Amora, the Enchantress. She was good as that. He doubted Lorelei. This was her Loki. She didn't doubt that it wasn't but it was a nice reassurance.
"Stop, both of you," Sigyn placed her hands on both of the hands that held the daggers. She got them to drop it. They both glanced at her before staring each other back down again. "Neither of you are imposters, you're both Loki." They did a double take on her. They narrowed their eyes at one another. She smirked. "Even the same reaction." Sigyn touched both of their cheeks with her hands. "You're both Loki." She showed one another snippets of memories of one another.
The battled Loki flinched. "How did you do that?" This Loki didn't know she was the Twin Flame.
Her Loki placed the dagger on his chest. "You get that thing out of here, right now!" He commanded with a threatening face. Loki was not fond of the Tesseract as he once was. This Loki before him got here with the Tesseract.
"Thought you would steal it from me," the other Loki brought it out of his jacket. It gave off a blue glow. "You sure you're me?"
Sigyn interfered again. She placed a hand on him. He looked over to her, each time he looked at her, his heart would race. He couldn't believe that was Sigyn. She gave him a comforting smile. "You come from a different time," she started to explain. "You fought the Avengers in 2012, this is the year 2023."
His jaw dropped. "I-I travelled eleven years in the future." He looked back to Loki with a knife. "You're me in the future then?"
Tunic Loki stared at him. He was thinking. He had no memory of that scene Sigyn showed where he picked up the Tesseract. Something must have happened. Check your memory, he thought over to Sigyn. If he altered the timeline, which would be due to the Avengers, this has Tony's work all over it, you wouldn't have the same memory as me. You wouldn't be waiting to be my bodyguard.
Sigyn listened to his request. She tilted her head to the side. There was no alter in memory. The battled Loki looked between them.
"Can you read our minds?" He asked.
"She can," the Loki of this timeline took his dagger back. He smirked. "You left too early, so you wouldn't know that we get to be guarded by her." He rubbed it in.
The past Loki looked over to her. "Why would Odin let her guard us? He knows we had feelings for her."
"Well, actually Glut Angrbroda guarded us," the current Loki corrected.
The past Loki raised his eyebrows. "You lied then."
"No, I didn't lie," he gave a snarl. "Glut Angrbroda is Sigyn."
The past Loki flinched. "Sweet Sigyn is Glut Angrbroda, one of the coldest and strictiest Valkyries, I don't see it."
"That's because you went here instead of Asgard, had to be greedy," the current Loki looked over at Sigyn who was still thinking. "Cowardly, didn't accept responsibility of your actions."
"You don't know what I have been through," the past Loki threatened.
The current Loki pressed the knife back on his knife. "You forget that I am the future you, or perhaps a version of it but I know exactly what you have been through and the torment just doesn't stop there." The past Loki could see that the current Loki wasn't lying.
"No change in memory," Sigyn interrupted. She looked at the two again. "Don't trust yourself?"
"Never," they both said at the same time with the same tone. Sigyn tried not to chuckle. "I would be the last one to trust in this situation." They continued on staring at one another with the same confused but harassing look.
"Well, Loki of a different time," she looked to him. His heart fluttered each time she called his name. He would melt.
The current Loki rolled his eyes. "Just stop. This Sigyn is mine."
"She's as much as mine as she is yours," the past Loki rebuked.
The current Loki brought out another dagger to press it unto the neck. "I will end you, here and now."
"Go ahead," the past Loki instigated.
"Both of you!" Sigyn placed her arm in the middle of them, she lit it up with flames. The two jumped back. "We can't have a simple conversation as it goes in circles each time."
"You-you can cast fire," the past Loki spoke in shock.
The current Loki touched her with a hand that was changed into Jotun form. She turned into her Jotun form; the flame turned blue. "Twin Flame." He reveled in revealing her secrets to his past self. The past Loki was in udder shock. Sigyn was a leviathan of a being with these immense powers.
"You're as bad as the children," Sigyn changed back. "Loki of the past, however troubled you must be, you cannot stay in this timeline." She warned him. The current Loki smirked; he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wish you could stay-"
"-I don't," the current Loki spoke over her. Sigyn rolled her eyes. "She's right though. You need to go back to your timeline."
"My timeline?" The past Loki was confused. "This is my timeline though."
Sigyn started to think about this situation.
The current Loki rebuked. "I'm not going to share this place with you. Not my wife, not my children. I'm not going to explain to them that you're from another universe. Not when you just got out of Thanos' clutches. You need more time to deal with all of that." The past Loki glanced over Sigyn before he raised his eye brows in question. The current Loki looked down at her before glancing back at him. "How adventurous she is, she would, but again, I'm not sharing." He warned him to not ask those type of questions again, pulling her in closer to him.
"It could be a spliced timeline," Sigyn spoke her thoughts aloud. "Like that of DNA, still connected with one another, heading in the same directional area but two different strands."
"You're saying he's supposed to be here," current Loki summed it up.
"Yes and no," Sigyn tilted her head back and forth. "We have no memory of any changes and neither of you are showing any signs of disappearing."
"That means, I am meant to stay," the past Loki gave a half smirk.
"Alright, I'm kicking you out, now," the current Loki moved past Sigyn to grab him by the shirt.
"I know all the ways back in," the past Loki let the future Loki pull him.
"I'll come up with something," the current Loki dragged him out of the house through the secret door in the bathing chamber. Sigyn followed behind them.
"What if more of us come, then what will you do?" He asked.
Current Loki stopped. This was a good question. Who knows how many other Lokis might stop by? "You've got a point." The past Loki got out of his clutches. He fixed himself.
"Of course I do," he walked past him. "You're right. I don't belong, in the future at least, but I do need to head back to the past. The Avengers won't find me if I head to a different area."
"Good, we agree," current Loki crossed his arms. "Sigyn, you may have the honor."
"The honor?" The past Loki turned to her.
"I'm not going to erase your memory," Sigyn explained. "But for our safety and yours, I will need to lock this memory away so no one can know."
"Lock it away?" He closed the gap between them. He took her hands in his. "I want to cherish this. I promise I won't tell anyone." He begged her, tugging at her heart with his pained expression.
She brushed his hair back behind his ear. "I know you won't, but I-we can't take that chance." She placed a hand on his heart. He glanced at it, placing his upon it as well. "You'll still feel it in your heart and soul, that you have a happy ending of a life with children and a wife in the secret oasis you found and created as your home, somewhere in time. A blissful life." His heart ached at that with tears forming in his eyes.
"I am dead to the whole universe," the current Loki had a gentle tone. It drew the past Loki to look away from Sigyn to stare at him. "And alive for my family, I don't want it the other way around. I want to keep it this way. I have lived enough that this is what I want for the rest of my life. You're different. You didn't go back to Asgard, you didn't meet Sigyn. Your timeline may be different. You do what you want, that's what we have always done. You need to work for that if you want the same ending as this, but that's on you." He gave him sound advice. "It's entirely up to you, but you won't get to know that this ending is out there."
"Tormented indeed," the past Loki masked his feelings with mock. He glanced back to Sigyn, loving and comforting. He tried to kiss her when a hand was placed over his mouth. He moved away with his hands up in the air. "Can't say I didn't try." He winked at her. Sigyn smiled. "I'll go." He stared at the current Loki. "Enjoy this enviable life." He glanced around. "Before I go, what are their names?"
"Vali, Nari, Einmyria, and Eisa," Sigyn answered him. "Two boys and two girls."
The past Loki felt a wave of emotion, he wanted to cry but held it in. He cleared his throat. "Enjoy this life for all of us." Current Loki nodded. He knew that there could be versions of him of different timelines that never get to have this. He would make sure he wouldn't take it for granted anymore.
Sigyn slipped in the past Loki's mind. She gathered all of the memories he made that connected to the oasis of this day, gathering it up like a needle and thread. She pulled his mind, making these memories hidden and locked away. Someone with her ability could only snip away at the hidden thread to allow these memories be released. She made the past Loki take out the Tesseract and follow his trace of thought of hurdling through time. That past Loki vanished with a glow of blue.
The two stared at the spot for a moment. Loki broke the silence. "You didn't search his mind?" He was curious why Sigyn didn't notice it earlier.
Sigyn looked up at him. "How did you know he was here?"
"I have this place and the portals covered with certain spells," Loki explained. "I should come up with something else, but how, since they are all me." He pondered out loud.
"If we go off of my protection, there might be versions where that has happened," she contemplated with him. "I think about anything that we would do, others might do as well." He agreed with a nod. "I'll put mine on there, so both of us can sense that." The two headed back. Loki placed his arm around her shoulders. "To answer your question, I haven't been reading minds since most of it was depressing and reliving the same horrible situation over again. I usually don't slip into other's minds anyways but I couldn't even bring myself to."
"Not even the children's?" Loki pulled her in tighter. The two entered using the secret door.
"No," Sigyn spoke as if that was wrong. "One time, but that was due to the snap. You can't help children grow if you read their minds. They need to learn to convey what they are thinking." Loki pulled her into his arms in front of the bed. "How do you feel about seeing your 'old self?''
"He doesn't deserve what he believes he deserved," Loki played with a lock of her hair. "The torment, the torture, the abysmal black darkness that he thinks will swallow him up. He is worthy and deserving of a better life."
Sigyn kissed him. "That he is." She gave him a big smile. Loki picked her up, to sit on the bed with her. "Worthy. Loki is worthy." They kissed again.
"Were you actually going to let him kiss you?" Loki pulled back. He really wanted to know, since she didn't move away from his advances or refute.
Sigyn smirked. "What, can't read my mind?"
He gaped. "I can't believe I am actually a little jealous of myself right now." He laid down with her. "We're going to have to remedy that." He kissed her once again.
They lived their life in bliss and peacefulness. A loving husband, an admirable father, a benevolent king, master sorcerer, formidable tactician, fiendish rouge, the God of Mischief living in the home he hand-built in the secret oasis he found, hidden from the universe, all worthiness of Loki.