"Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened Into the rose-garden. My words echo Thus, in your mind."
~ T.S. Eliot
Sylvie's parting thoughts regarding Sigyn, regarding me, gnawed at my mind. Dare I look? It seemed absurd. But, what if we were? What did that mean? Sigyn, my Sigyn, Norns, no! Definitely not my Sigyn! My friend, Sigyn. Yes, that was better. My friend Sigyn had thought the idea of us courting on Asgard 96283 was ridiculous. But, was there more to her being here? Were our threads always meant to intertwine across the multiverse?
I looked. I tried not, but I had to know. And I wish I hadn't. Sigyn was there. In all of them. I couldn't always tell if there was a romantic relationship, but there was always a relationship of familiarity and close proximity between us. On some branches, we had children!
My stomach churned, it couldn't be. It just couldn't! But was it? Was something beyond my own abilities drawing us to one another? People died on branches every day, why had I sensed Sigyn's thread moments before her impending death? Why?
"I brought back another tropical, and these ones' are mixed berries." Sylvie declared, strolling through a time door balancing three more smoothies in her hands. She placed one on the table, and plopping down next to me, shoved a cup into my hand, taking a slurp from the other. I watched her; the way her eyes closed in bliss when the chilly fruity flavour hit her senses, the quirk of a smile, despite having a straw between her lips, the quizzical tilt of her head when they opened, and she caught me watching her. It was Sylvie, not Sigyn. Sylvie I cared for, Sylvie I wanted at my side, no one else. Leaning across, I pressed my lips to her cold ones, tasting wild berries and everything I wanted. Sylvie jolted back, eyes wide.
"What was that?" She uttered.
"A kiss, obviously." I retorted, leaning away from her, and hastily shoving my own straw in my mouth.
"Why?"
"I don't know, why does one normally kiss another?" I went for aloof, unaffected, uncaring. "I'm hedonistic, remember." Sylvie's eyes narrowed.
"Oh my god, you looked didn't you?"
"What?"
"The branches, all the Asgards. You looked." I opened my mouth but Sylvie continued; "I was right, wasn't I?" Shutting my mouth, I gave one nod, and just like that, pain flashed across her face, a nearly imperceptible flinch of muscles.
"It doesn't mean anything." I bit out, heart beginning to slam against my ribs.
"But it does, Loki. On every branch, across the multiverse, you're meant to be with Sigyn." Sylvie leapt up from the throne, and paced. "Of course, it's why she's here."
"I'm a variant, I'm not even meant to exist!" I yelled, panicking. "If she was with any Loki, it would be the original me, and it never happened."
"Because he died!" Sylvie shot back. "He died, and you're still here, so it still counts!"
"I don't even like her, and I never have, and are you forgetting Mobius?" I argued, "We quite literally watched them nearly kiss in Ancient Egypt."
"Yeah well, people do stupid things when they're alone and it's life or death." Sylvie shot back.
"Is that what it was? A stupid thing? Is that all we are?" I glared at her.
"I never said that." She muttered, looking away.
"When I told Sigyn about the branch, the one you saw earlier, told her we were together on it, she implied I was insane. She's not interested. She's never been interested, and I've never been interested." I insisted, watching how Sylvie bit at her lip, doubting her assumptions.
"What happened in Ancient Egypt means nothing." She eventually muttered. "It could have been a once off."
"You're joking, right?" I scoffed, and picked up Sigyn's thread, intent on proving both Sylvie wrong, and quieting the doubt in my head, the fear in my heart.
It seemed Mobius had finished his report, and both he and Sigyn were bright eyed and bushy, showered and adorning their own clothing once more.
They now stood in the Repairs and Advancements Department, and O.B had just finished explaining something to Mobius and Sigyn. All three were clearly excited about whatever it was.
"It was great thinking, Sigyn. I would never have thought of it myself." O.B said, and Sigyn shook her head with a laugh.
"It was Mobius who thought of it. I didn't realise it was even here, until he mentioned it. Even if it's a short term fix, it's better than nothing."
"Well, I can't take all the credit. I mentioned it, and Sigyn had the brainwave of using it." Mobius nudged her shoulder playfully and she smiled up at him.
"Once it has been dropped off, I'll get to work on it right away. In the mean time, good luck, Sigyn."
"What are they talking about? What's getting dropped off?" Sylvie asked, having relented and slumped down next to me, observing Sigyn's thread.
"No idea, but it's probably something to do with the Infinity Loop idea." I took a quick glance at what O.B was working on. He was surrounded by semi-assembled parts which sort of resembled an Infinity loop. I still doubted it's efficiency.
"You still don't believe it will work." Sylvie stated dispassionately.
"I can't see how it can."
"At least let them keep trying." She gently nudged my arm which rested against hers.
"Yeah." I followed Sigyn's thread, finding her and Mobius down a deserted corridor not too far from O.B's domain.
"I'll set you down close to the New Asgard border, so you can at least look like you've walked in." Mobius said in that conspiring whisper of his. I missed being a part of those conversations.
"Wait, Sigyn's returning to New Asgard?" Sylvie hissed.
"I told her she would be able to." I tried to keep the smugness from my reply.
"Perfect, and I'll meet you back at the same place in exactly twelve hours." Sigyn replied, and then she said; "Mobius, your bleeding." Alarmed, I checked him over, but it was a small cut on his jaw which he hastily wiped at with a handkerchief from his pocket.
"Cut myself shaving, it doesn't seem to want to stop bleeding."
"Here. Let me just..." Sigyn reached up, gently touching the cut and healed it.
"Did you know she could do that?" Sylvie asked.
"No, I didn't. Because, contrary to popular belief, I don't know her very well."
"Ha ha." Sylvie muttered.
"It doesn't even sting now, thank you. You really are full of surprises. Good ones." Mobius said, awe in his voice once more.
"I can't perform major healing , just small things." Hastily she fixed his shirt collar and tie, as if she needed something to do with her hands. "It's nothing really." She added.
"Well, I think it's incredible." Mobius raised his hands, settling them lightly on her shoulders. "You're incredible."
"No. I'm just me." Sigyn replied sincerely.
"And that's what I like about you." He chuckled, and leaning in, pressed his lips to hers, pulling halfway back, seeming shocked by his own bold action. Sigyn blinked up at him a moment, before the hands, still at his shirt collar, slid around his neck, and she rose up to kiss him back.
I'd expected that would be the end of it, a sweet first kiss. How wrong I was. It were as if Mobius had tasted something addictive. The first tentative kisses became deeper, slower, precious, and I was certain the thread I held even heated. Sigyn, who I'd seen kiss Fandral and Theoric, and be betrayed by both, looked thoroughly star struck when they both finally pulled away; breathy and dark eyed.
"I'll see you in twelve hours." Mobius whispered, opening a time door.
"Twelve hours." Sigyn promised, lingering a moment before disappearing into a halo of golden light.
Mobius stood for a long time, staring at where Sigyn had last been and gave a rueful chuckle. "I miss her already."
I pulled from the thread and stared triumphantly at Sylvie. "You owe me an apology."
"I do not." She retorted, but I could see the relief in the way her shoulders relaxed. Still, it wasn't enough. "You can't predict the future, Loki. Relationships change." I let out a long suffering sigh.
"What do I need to do to prove to you, there is nothing now and there will be nothing between Sigyn and I in the future?" Whatever it is, I'll do it."
"Show me your past."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Every past moment with Sigyn. Show me."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "Perhaps it will reveal something even you haven't noticed before. Looking to the past to unravel the future. If you're lives end up entangled on every single branch, maybe we can go back and find out what draws you together?"
"Every branch..." I frowned. "What about your branch?"
"What about it?"
"If the Loki on every branch ends up with a Sigyn, what about your original branch? Was there a Sigyn on your branch? Or perhaps a male equivalent. She or he would be of similar age. They would have been in the palace, someone you studied with, perhaps even a friend."
"No..." Sylvie murmured, clearly thinking back. "I don't remember anyone called Sigyn. I remember Thor, well, my Thor. And Sif." She shook her head, trying to make sense of it.
"I'll take you back into my thread, but only if after we can look into yours."
"Deal."
Asgard Sacred Timeline
(A few weeks before Thor's intended Coronation)
"Beautiful Sigyn." I greeted my new dance partner, somewhat relieved after enduring Sif's attempts to knock me out. She was still pissed about the whole hair incident. I couldn't fathom why, I'd clicked my fingers and it was back to it's usual length. All of it. Okay, most of it. I'd left a small section at the back she couldn't see shorter, and I was sure everyone was too scared to tell her she sort of maybe had a bald patch.
Sigyn actually knew how to dance, and while I had her alone, I decided to impart some wisdom upon her. Especially since she kept glancing adoringly at the bastard courting her.
"Don't waste your thoughts or precious heart on, Scoundrel, oops, I mean, Fandral." I murmured.
"What are you talking about?" She hissed back, those sapphire blue eyes of hers wide and innocent.
"He's being unfaithful to you. You hadn't realised?"
"That's not funny, Loki." I spun her to the boisterous melody then brought her back in close.
"I never said it was."
"Who then? Who is he being unfaithful with?" She demanded regally, but I could sense her nervousness, her building fear. Better to hurt early on than when it was too late.
"The better question is; who hasn't he been unfaithful with?" Sigyn bit her lip, staying the forming tremble, but I heard it in her next unsure words.
"You're lying."
"Dear Sigyn, for what reason would I have to lie to you?" The song ended, and we stood there, her searching my eyes. She'd find no deceit there.
"I... I need to go." She gave a hasty half curtsey. "Excuse me, my Prince." The rushed formality shocked me, but she had vanished before I could say anything more.
"Ah brother, if it weren't for our guest, Prince Apollo, I'd think you were trying to swindle Sigyn away from Fandral. He's planning to wed her you know."
"Is that before or after he's slept his way through the rest of Asgard's female population?" I shot back, ignoring the heated gaze of a certain Olympian prince from across the feast hall. I'd see him later.
"Loki! It's an offence to spread such rumours." Thor hissed.
"They aren't rumours, and there is nothing offensive in warning one of our subjects off a dishonest match. I'd say it should be our duty. Sigyn far outranks Fandral anyway." I argued, and Thor snorted.
"Please, I know Fandral, and he wouldn't-"
"You idiotic swine! Sif's enraged voice was unmistakable, but the yelp of surprised pain was not. We turned, to see Sif hauling a protesting Fandral away from one of the alcoves along the edges of the hall, one of the female servants, hurrying nervously in the opposite direction, re-adjusting her garments. "I've seen ogres with more respect than you!"
"Sif, please-"
"Do not plead to me!" She spat, and before he could react, for he was rather full, her fist connected with his face
Ouch. I knew how that fist felt. "That's from me. And this-" Fandral let out a howl as Sif's knee connected with his groin. "Is from Sigyn!" The last bit she hissed with so much venom, I thought it might drip from her lips.
"Well, that's that." I declared, and before Thor could react, I caught Apollo's eye and strode from the hall.
"See nothing. I wasn't even entertaining females at that time." I said and Sylvie nodded, a smile playing on her lips."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Clearly it's not. Tell me?"
"I would have gone for Apollo too, he's quite fetching." Her gaze shifted slyly to me.
"He was wasn't he?" I found myself grinning. I truly hadn't known how this little adventure into my thread would go.
"So, what's next?" Sylvie asked.
"That's it. That's all my memories of Sigyn before New York." I stared at the thread in my hand.
"So everything afterwards is uncharted territory."
"More or less." Sylvie sensed my hesitation. "There are some things I've seen, in my greatest moments TVA gag reel which don't add up for me. I... I've experienced some terrible things, but I feel my original self endured so much more before his end."
"You're afraid of the unknown." Sylvie said, not unkindly. I shrugged.
"Perhaps? When Sigyn arrived, she didn't go into immense detail, but she said something had happened to the other me. I'd changed. For the better, but she indicated something, not just New York and my time in the Void under the Black Order and Thanos had impacted me. I know my mother was slain, I know it was my fault. Nothing is worse. I know Odin passed onto Valhalla." I looked at Sylvie. I think something else happened. I don't know..."
To my utmost surprise, Sylvie took my hand in hers. "You're not alone." She said, and for the first time, the weight and strain of the branches tied securely to my left hand felt lighter. "Whatever past we are going to, we are going together. Her hand and mine grasped back onto the branch, and suddenly we were back where I had stood in Stark Tower, muzzled and cuffed, except this time, there was no scuffle. There was not the cologne of two Tony Starks, and the Tesseract never escaped it's confines. And neither did I.
Guys, we are about to enter the Lokiverse in the next couple chapters, and it is such fun writing some Sacred Timeline Loki and his internal walls and snark! Hopefully you enjoy it!
Super Squashman - Thanks! Sylvie is probably getting more than she bargained for in Loki's method of showing her she has nothing to worry about. At least they can both agree on, Apollo.
Kelly of the midnight dawn - Yes! Another Owen Wilson fan! High Ten to us! I initially thought there was something between him and Renslayer too, but if they'd actually been together on the Sacred Timeline, omgods it would have been awkward with all the pruning. I cannot begin to imagine what it is like, losing your mum. I'm so sorry, and I hope you've been able to be surrounded by family and or friends these past couple weeks. Loki and Mobius would 1000% make awesome parents, I can just imagine Mobius trying to lay down the rules and Loki being all like, be free little horned children, be free and chaotic and here's a permanent marker, go decorate something. I think you could totally write a fic, just remember write foremostly for yourself, and you don't even have to publish if you don't want to. I've heaps of little stories I've never published, usually to get a story idea off my chest. Take care x