***Citadel, The End Of Time***

She had done it. After all this time, Sylvie had finally accomplished her mission and slain the true creator of the TVA, and freed the timeline.

Yes, there were a few bumps along the way, but finally, it was done...
Now what?

"Sylvie!"

That voice. She knew it all to well. A chill ran up her spine as she turned and saw-

"Loki?" She said before gasping in shock, "OH MY GOD! LOKI!"

A few feet away on his knees was her partner whom she had grown quite accustomed to with her sword impaling him right through his heart.

Though the sight was so frightful, she instantly ran to his side and caught him as he fell backward and groaned in pain.
She shushed him and did her best to ignore the tears that were falling down to his blood-stained shirt.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay! I promise!" She cooed. But she truthfully didn't know what to do. They were far away from anyone or anything that could help and from the looks of it, Loki was losing his life force.

Struggling to breathe and groaning in pain, he fought to speak. "I-.. asked you.. not to! B-b-begged!"

Sylvie's heart began to hurt as she heard his strained words. The more she listened, the more the hurt. "I know. But it's over now. We did it!"

She tried to make a positive note but to no avail.

"No, YOU did this!" Another voice behind her said.

To her horror, Sylvie saw that it was...her!

"You did this!" The other Sylvie scolded, walking ever closer, "You brought this down on us and even killed the only one who was willing to stand by our side!"

Sylvie began to shake and felt her world crumble. This wasn't true!

"No. No! I sent him away, out of danger! This isn't real!" She protested. She squeezed her eyes shut, determined to end this illusion.

"You can't escape this!" Her double taunted her, grabbing the sides of her head, making her open her eyes. "You've damned us to a life of pain, suffering, and loneliness!"

Sylvie was about to object again but was grabbed from behind.

"He was your chance, and you threw him away!" It was another her and she was snaking her arm around Sylvie's neck, choking her.

At the mention of Loki, the real Sylvie looked to where Loki's body lay on the floor only to see it propped up in a chair, He Who Remains' chair. The horrifying sight of this drove Sylvie even more mad.

"Noo!"

She kicked and bucked her way out of the grasp of her doubles and ran for the elevator doors. But as soon as she made it, the door opened to reveal an impaled Loki in tears.

"Help me, Sylvie!" He croaked, reaching out for her.

Sylvie jumped back, shrieking in fright and fear before turning and bumping into another double of her.

"You can't run from us!" She said, grabbing the goddess by her shoulders.

Sylvie pulled away from her only to find even more doubles of her pulling her into the elevator. As they all held her down, she felt the elevator go down fast and her stomach began to feel like it was in her throat.

Next thing she knew, she was being pulled into a deep dark hole and the light began to disappear. All the while, the weak and painful voice of Loki called to her.

"Sylvie! Sylvie! Sylvie, please!"

It was all too much! She wanted it to end!

"No! NO! NOOOO! HELP ME!" She cried before letting out a blood-curdling scream as the darkness finally engulfed her.

Sylvie shot up in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. The feeling of her arms being held still caused her to believe it was a dream. Even the sound of Loki's calling to her sounded real.

"Sylvie! Sylvie!"

And the darkness, it was all she saw! But in reality, it was a bad dream. The darkness was from her not opening her eyes. And the calls from Loki really were from him trying to wake her from what seemed to be a nightmare. The same was for her being held, he had taken her shoulders to try and calm her movements which shook the whole bed.

"Sylvie, darling, it's me! It's Loki!" He tried to assure her, but she still tried to pull away.

"No, no! Please, stop it!" She cried, still not fully out of it.

"Open your eyes! Please, see that it's me!" Loki pleaded, tears threatening to come from him now.

Her thrashing began to lessen a little and her eyes slowly opened and she saw the man before her.

"It's all right, darling. It was just a nightmare."

That was putting lightly in her mind. But at least she was coming out of it, slowly beginning to take reality back in. The biggest part that she was shocked by was Loki. Here he was. No blood, no sword through him. Just the same handsome caring man she had known, alive and breathing. And obviously, very worried about her from the look on his face.

The joy of him being alive hit Sylvie so hard that she left up and wrapped her arms around him and buried herself into his chest.

"It's all right, Sylvie." Loki cooed, returning the hug and holding her close, "I've got you."

And he did. He held her and didn't let her go and Sylvie made no motion of letting him go. As many a time in the past, it was in Loki's arms that she found comfort, relief, safety. And plenty of it.

Some time went by and Loki called her.

"Feel any better?"

He received no reply and from her sniffles, he could tell she hand tone back to sleep. But Loki didn't press. He waited for her to do what she needed.

And within the next few minutes, there was movement as Sylvie slowly pulled away from him and sat up on her own. Then she froze, just staring at the comforter over her legs. She was quiet. Didn't make a sound save for her light breathing.

Still wanting to show her comfort, Loki placed a hand on her back and lightly rubbed. But he noticed that as soon as he touched her, she shuddered and her skin tensed under his touch.
And then, she spoke.

"Loki?"

"Yes, darling?" He replied, happy to hear her speak.

There was another moment of silence before she spoke again. "How can you still love me?"

The question surprised Loki so much, he paused his rubbing her back and scooted more forward in the bed so he could see her face. "What do you mean 'how'?"

Sylvie shut her eyes to fight back another attack but only succeeded in holding back the cries as the tears came without remorse.

"I betrayed you. Pushed you away when you were trying to help me. I...I tried to kill you!" Her voice cracked at that, another cry almost breaking through. She took another moment to try and gather her thoughts and feeling together. It wasn't easy, and not all of her ducks were back in a row. Still, she went on. "I treated you terribly from the moment we met... and yet, after all of this, you still comfort and show me love... why?"

As he listened to the woman he loved, Loki began to understand now. All of it. Her question, her nightmare... it was all connected. Though he didn't know exactly what happened within her terrible dream, he knew that it had to deal with something that brought back bad memories. And with those bad memories came bad feelings.

But as he thought about it, he began to think of it from his end. Which, when you think about it, wasn't that different from Sylvie's. And that was where he was able to get his answer.

"Well, I... I have an understanding of what you're feeling." He began, doing his best to choose his words carefully, "I've lived a life like yours where I've pushed away people who cared about me, and... and I've lost them too. In more ways than one."

As he continued, Sylvie's gaze shifted from the bed to the man next to her.

"And when I met you, it was like I was meeting myself for the first time. And it was through you that I began to understand and see. And the closer we became, I realized how much we needed each other, and I... I didn't want to be apart from you. Even when we fought in the citadel, I didn't care if you hurt me or hated me. I meant what I said when I told you I just wanted you to be okay. And that was the moment I realized that I loved you. Because that's what love is." He paused, having taken her hands in his, "Love is understanding. Love is grief...and love is forgiveness too. And I forgave you the moment I stood up after you pushed me away. I understood what you were going through, and I still do."

Sylvie never broke her gaze from Loki's eyes, nor did he hers.

"The only difference is that you didn't have anyone there to help you through your grief, your suffering. I did. But, foolish as I am, I turned them away, like a Loki. But I'm done with that, and I won't let you go through that. That's why I'm still here, with you. Because I love you. Sylvie."

And that was all Sylvie needed to hear. Like magic, Loki's words had begun to slowly piece back together her broken, aching heart.

"Oh, Loki!" She wept, embracing him and burying her face into the crock of his neck, "I love you too! You're too wonderful. I don't deserve you."

"Yes, you do." Her lover retorted wittingly, "It's I who doesn't deserve you."

"You're right. You deserve someone better than me, but I'll do my best to be enough." Sylvie pulled back to look her lover in the eyes once again. She even gave him a small smile. And that was all Loki needed to see to lift his heart and return the favor.

"How about more than enough?" He kindly shot back.

Sylvie couldn't help a small chuckle at that. She truly did love this man. "Always saying something to make me feel better."

"Always," Loki replied. He took her left hand and kissed the inside of it before looking at the top of where a gold band sat on her ring finger. "That's what I promised when I put gave this to you."

Sylvie looked at her finger and stared at the ring. The piece that was a symbol of her love of and from Loki; her husband. And taking his hand, she observed the matching band in his; her husband's hand.

And the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Loki really was living up to their wedding vows.

He loved her, comforted her, cherished her. In sickness and in health. For better, or for worse.
He was all of those and more.

"I love you, Loki." She told him, meaning every bit of it.

Loki smiled at his wife and pulled her in for a kiss, one she didn't refuse to return. "I love you too, Sylvie." He said when they broke apart.

But they didn't let each other go, rather they held each other the whole night through. And as she slept, Sylvie felt more at peace thanks to the man next to her.
Loki.

The man who loved her. The man who, despite all her transgressions, even when they were directed at him, forgave her and loved her still.

Because that's what love was; forgiveness.

Wow... I didn't know I had that one in me. 😅 When I first made this, I didn't make it so deep. It was partially written after the S1 finale and I just got stuck. But with all the hype of LOKI S2, it gave me a chance to keep my love for this ship going and I wanted to make it special😁. And I can't wait to see these two reunite onscreen and what other stuff they get into together. 😊😊💚

But I hope you guys enjoyed this, it felt great to be writing again. I'll be doing it a lot more again now that I've got some time on my hands and there's plenty more OTHER stuff coming too. 😉😉😁

Lmk what you guys thought, love hearing the feedback and I'll see you guys soon!

Laters! 💚😌