A/N:
Then suddenly her gaze hardened and her jaw tensed up.
"I want to know why this happens and then stop it."
He tilted his head, wanting her to look at him, "Sylvie, look at me.." and added as she shook her head, "..please."
She hesistated first, but then turned her head and he saw her watery eyes.
"What happened?"
She sat at the table, head lowered, repetitively stabbing the pancake on her plate with her fork.
Mobius noticed and placed a hand on hers.
"Everything alright? You seem to be in a particularly good mood today, Sylvie. Wanna tell old Mobius what's on your mind?"
"No," the enchantress said and shot him a deeply irritated gaze, "And stop talking of yourself in the third person, you sound like a creep.."
Sylvie stabbed the pancake once more, this time even louder, causing Thor and Love to look at her.
"But whatever crime, I bet the pancakes are innocent.." Mobius started and got a death stare from the goddess in return.
"Just let me finish breakfast in peace, Mobius."
"Okay, got it," he said in surrender and then to Love, "You're dad did a great job with these."
"You like marmelade or maple syrup better? I love maple syrup!" the girl cheered and hold a fork to Mobius' mouth. He bit down and made a grateful moaning sound.
"Yeah, definitively my favourite, too!" the analyst confirmed and smiled at Love.
"You have a sweet tooth, agent Mobius?" Thor asked, coming out of the kitchen with another pan.
"Oh, that's an understatement," Mobius laughed.
"Pour a ton of sugar on it and Mobius is in," the grumpy woman next to him stated, looking down on her plate and the masacre she made of her breakfast.
Thor looked at her with curiosity, a joyful expression on his face.
"And what do you prefer, sister?"
Sylvie stopped the pancake torture at once and Mobius saw her jaw tense.
"I'd prefer you wouldn't call me sister," she grumbled.
Everyone was silent for a moment. When the enchantress looked up she was confronted with three confused and worried faces and decided to stand up.
"I'm sorry, guys. Thanks for the breakfast, Thor. But that's too much happy family right now. I'll leave and look for something to hit or stab for real.."
And with that the goddess left, slamming the door behind her.
"What's the matter?" Thor asked with a questioning voice.
"I don't know. But I think I'll better go after her," Mobius answered and bend down to Love, "Save me some pancakes, okay? Don't let your dad eat all of them."
The girl grinned at him and promised with a pinky swear. He waved at them and left.
After searching the woods and the harbor, he found her sitting on a cliff and with one last deep breath he walked towards her, surprised at what he saw. There she sat, his hotheaded chaos queen, not stabbing or scaring anything..
But petting a stray cat.
"Well, that's a first," the analyst remarked with a surprised tone, sitting down beside her.
"Found her screaming her lungs out down there," she said, pointing to a ledge a few steps under them, "She seemed lost..look how skinny she is. I'm going to ask Thor for some meat later."
The enchantress stroked the entirely black fur gently and got rewarded with purring and a headbutt.
"You think the mother's coming back?" the analyst asked.
"Didn't see any other cat around. Given her condition, I think she's already alone for a while.."
He looked at the small kitten. Her tousled fur was lackluster and you could clearly see the bones through her skin.
"You want to adopt her?" Mobius asked and stuck his hand out, letting the little kitten sniff, before he carefully stroked her head.
Despite how it looked, the fur was really soft.
"Maybe.." the blonde woman answered, thoughtfully, "Don't know if I'm good with living things, though.."
"She seems to like you," Mobius noted warmly.
"Yeah, well, in that case, chances are that she'll die or hit the road anytime soon."
Sylvie let out a scornful laugh, "Or perhaps she'll purr herself into my heart first, before she realizes her true destiny is to save the universe, go all cat- jesus- mode and turn into a giant catnip- tree.."
Mobius didn't know if to laugh or hug her. But he wasn't sure if that would be too much right now, so he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm used to your sunny disposition, Sylvie..but not to this amount of bitterness. What's the matter?"
The goddess looked at the waves, all the time petting the black stray in front of her.
"I was there again.."
Mobius was all ears now, waiting for her to go on. There was a long pause and it seemed as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself a few times.
Then suddenly her gaze hardened and her jaw tensed up.
"I want to know why this happens and then stop it."
He tilted his head, wanting her to look at him, "Sylvie, look at me.." and added as she shook her head, "..please."
She hesistated first, but then turned her head and he saw her watery eyes.
"What happened?"
"It's okay, Mobius. I'm too old to live in fairyland..he's fine, he has his purpose, he has his throne. Everything's alright.."
But Mobius looked at her in disbelief, "I want to shake you so desperately right now, can you imagine that? You two are just so unbelievable.."
Sylvie didn't answer so he continued, "Did you see him? Did you see how skinny he is?!"
The gaze on the enchantress' face was upset now, "Of course I saw it. I'm not blind, Mobius. But that doesn't mean anything..it's not that he has to eat, anyway. Grown beyond that, I suppose.."
She shook her head, "We don't even know what he is, Mobius..he certainly isn't human anymore, that's for sure.."
"Not that he was particularly human in the first place," Mobius stated with a raised eyebrow.
"You know what I mean. Demigod or not..I have to eat and sleep and pee..he's not tied to this world anymore, Mobius."
She paused for a moment, sighing deep, "He's gone.."
He saw that she blinked tears away.
"What did you guys talk about? Something happened..the thing you said to Brunnhilde..our talk with Thor.."
Her hands were trembling now, her voice shaky, "I confronted him, asked him why he locked us out at the temporal loom. He said there was no time to say goodbye, but that's bullshit..you know it is, Mobius. It was unfair. And I'm so done with pretending that his sacrifice was pure altruism, because it wasn't. He's done what he always did, playing god, deciding for everyone..I told him the kiss wasn't just a distraction but then..yeah, I got cold feet. Flight mode kicking in. Leftover from running all my life, I suppose."
She took a deep breath, grounding herself, petting the kitten with soft hands.
"He let go of the timelines out of reflex, which shocked us both..and the branches didn't die, which was even more shocking. That was the chance, I wanted to go to him..but they stopped me. I couldn't get through..it was impossible..then he revealed to me, that he saw the kiss with Valkyrie.."
Sylvie chuckled with disbelief, shaking her head. Mobius looked at her with wide eyes, "He watched it?"
The enchantress turned and locked eyes with him, "Honestly, Mobius, does this really surprise you? Not me..he's established himself some nice playground to satisfy his need for control."
"I wouldn't go this far, Sylvie..He just wants to make sure you're okay.."
He probably shouldn't have said that, but he realized his mistake not until she shot him the most disgusted look since he went out of the control room to get some pie during the loom- chaos.
"You're kidding me right now..Seriously, Mobius?! But I'm not surprised that you legitimize this..you've done it yourself your whole life, didn't you? Watching people, deciding if you like what you see and then make your judgement. There's a name for that..That's stalking, Mobius..that's abuse!"
Despite..or perhaps because of her anger and shaking, the black cat snuggled against Sylvie, rolling herself up into a small ball in her lap.
Mobius knew her emotions didn't just come from her talk with Loki..it was a mixture..a mixture of their meeting and her experience with the TVA and her past.
He knew she had nightmares.
She told him about them a few weeks ago. Nightmares of He who Remains and the TVA..the analyst guessed it all came back, now that she finally found some peace after all those years on the run. Now her mind had the chance to deal with all the stuff she went through.
He was positive, that it was some sort of post- traumatic stress disorder. Sometimes the guilt creeped over him, when he looked at his chaos queen, especially when she was so vulnerable.
But there was no way to undo what the TVA did to her..what they took away from her..
"No wonder Loki was so eager to work for the TVA. You have the same twisted idea of peace - keeping and protection."
Now Mobius shook his head and tried to place a hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away, "Come on, Sylvie, you're taking the easy way out here..there was a lot of chaos, you were there yourself. Things are not always black and white.."
Sylvie shook his hand away, "I was about to tell him that he just had to watch a few moments longer, but he already made his conclusion. A conclusion he got from watching me without any consent or knowing. He told me he wants me to be happy, doesn't want to stand in my way..yeah, sure, tell it to the marines..because it's all his call, like it always is..why listen to my words when his majesty already made up his mind.. If that's not twisted, tell me what is.."
"You two talk at cross purposes..you want the same thing, Sylvie.."
"But it's not possible, Mobius! Even if you're right, the branches keep him there, they won't let him go..and he doesn't want to, because he's a coward..and yeah, maybe I'm too. And maybe..he and I..it just wasn't meant to be.."
The kitten meowed and looked with wide eyes at her, headbutting her hand. The enchantress stroked her little head.
"Listen, Sylvie.."
"No, Mobius, you listen to me now! I lived my whole life, a thousand fucking years, watching my every move because there was a fascist organisation that just waited for me to step on a wrong leaf. While you were sitting in your comfy chair at the TVA, eating pie, observing your next pruning target and Loki bathing himself in his own glory, fantasizing about being king and commanding people around..I ran from apocalypse to apocalypse, fighting to survive another fucking day.."
She stood now, holding the kitten in her arms, "So, for the record: I'm not going to romanticize this asshole watching from above like some benevolent godly thing..but hey, I have an idea - why don't YOU TWO just start something?! Because you clearly share the same toxic perception of helping and saving people."
"The TVA chairs really aren't this comfy and I think I prefer redheads..," he analyst started, trying to make a joke, loosen up the heated situation.
Didn't work.
Of course it wouldn't..
Once fueled on, the goddess of mischief was a loose cannon. Which he respected..in fact, he admired her. Two unleashed demigods had somehow managed to turn inside out and bring down an organisation which existed for eons, all within the blink of an eye.
But for now she had seemingly decided to leave it at that and with one last withering look at him she ultimatively gave her attention back to the little, meowing thing in her arms.
"Let's get you inside and see if we find something to eat for you."
When she had already turned her back on him, she added, "I want to know why this happens and then I want it to stop. Give him his glorious solitude back and me my peace.."
Mobius sighed deep and nodded.
Eons of experience and yet these two demigods were the most stubborn and complicated beings he ever had the honor of meeting.
She cradled the little furball to her chest, as she opened the door. It took maybe five seconds before an excited eight year old ran into her.
"Aww, she's soo cute!"
Sylvie crouched down to the girl, "Careful Love, she's tiny and she's hungry..would you take her for a moment, while I ask your Dad for some meat?"
"Dad's in the kitchen. I'll promise I protect her," the girl confirmed with joy and excitement.
The enchantress nodded, handed the kitten carefully over and went to the kitchen.
There stood the mighty Thor, in a kitchen apron, doing the dishes.
"Thor, god of thunder, chosen for the sacred duty of dish washing," Sylvie said, standing next to him.
He turned his head and smiled warmly, "Chosen for the sacred duty of being a dad."
Sylvie remembered her statement from before and felt a little uncomfortable now in his presence. He was really nice, opened his doors for them, but the all sunshine- and- rainbows- atmosphere was just too much..
She had woken up with an aching heart and a bunch of anger in her stomach..and at the same time she felt strangely hollow and ten minutes after that a jolly Mobius had called her for breakfast..
The goddess returned his smile shyly, "About what I said earlier..the sister thing.."
But he shook his head, "That's okay, Sylvie. It's a little weird, I understand that..and much to process, for both of us. I mean, two days ago I didn't even know you existed..or variants in general..and everything"
She nodded, grateful for his understanding and remembered why she came here in the first place, "I found a little kitten outside. Do you have some meat and water for her?"
"Oh..of course, wait.." he answered, opening the fridge, handing her a few pieces of meat, "Beef fillet, she'll like that for sure."
"Thanks, Thor," Sylvie said, taking the fillet, putting it into a bowl.
As she walked into the living room, Mobius was already there, sitting with Love on the carpet, the kitten between the two of them. Love held a cord, moving it up and down, laughing with joy when the kitten jumped, trying to catch it.
Sylvie gave Mobius a nod and sat down with them, putting the meat in front of the black furball.
"Hey, little one, time for lunch."
The kitten immediately jumped at the bowl and nearly fell over it in the process, causing a laugh from all three.
"There you are..hey, not so fast. It's all yours," Sylvie commented the gulping kitten.
"She's really hungry!" Love stated, exited, grinning at the enchantress, "What's her name?"
Sylvie thought for a long moment, looking at her new fluffy companion and put on a smile.
"Nélya"
"The horned one," Mobius mentioned, slowly approaching to the goddess again.
"The survivor," Sylvie corrected.
"How suitable," the agent said, smiling warmly.
A moment later Thor came out of the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear.
"There's someone waiting for you outside, Sylvie."
She knitted her brows, looking suspicious at the god and his wide grin. He really was a ray of sunshine, wasn't he?
"Come on, you'll like that!" Thor assumed and the goddess stood.
"I'll take care of Nélya!" Love promised with googly eyes.
Sylvie opened the door and hardly believed what she saw there.
Valkyrie, and beside her..
..a horse..
A giant, elegant, white horse.
"Good morning, mysterious woman. Ready for your first riding lesson?"
Wide eyes stared back and forth between the smiling Brunnhilde and the..really, really big animal besides her.
"I said I put you on a horse today and I stand by my promises."
"Seems like you're on a roll with living things today," an amused analyst said, patting her back.
"Hop on, mysterious woman. I'll show you the hidden gems of New Asgard"
Hey guys,
It's happening, Chapter 12!
This chapter is a bit shorter but I hope you like it! I was ill this week so I had plenty of time. The next one will probably take longer again..
The talk between Mobius and Sylvie came easy to me. I felt all her pain and anger.. and how do you like the idea of Sylvie taking care of a little kitten? :)
And now she's also getting riding lessons from Val..some welcome distraction from the worries and aching hearts 3
Kelly of the midnight dawn ~ I think about the "lock them in a hotel room" part and suggest that to Sylvie (but perhaps at this point she'll probably stab me ^^ so I reconsider this again..)
The "true to character" part means so much to me!
You're right, it is worrying..the multiverse is big and I fear the fall from the highest throne might be the deepest..
Thank you so much for reading and your wonderful Reviews! =)