Summary:

With every step they took, the picture before their eyes was getting more and more clear and at the same time the sting in Sylvies heart got bigger and bigger.

She had a lump in her throat and fought hard to hold back tears.

"This can't be real.."

The atmosphere was charged with electricity which emerged from the powerful creature and when she felt the wind arise, she closed her eyes.

It was the wind of destruction..

But also the wind of change.

She felt it and it electrified her in a way that she hadn't felt in a long time.

A/N:

Hey my dear readers,

I'm so glad I can update now and I hope you like this one as much as I loved writing it!

The cursive parts in between are from another persons POV. Let's see how fast you find out who it is ;)

And there's also a reunion with an old friend..

Happy reading,

Enchantress

It took her a few seconds, before Sylvie realized that they were no longer falling.

That she was on firm ground again.

Or at least something that was comparable to it.

The way stone used to be it should have been hard and cold, but this one felt different. It was way warmer and a soft vibration went through its surface.

Exactly the way it felt in her dreams..

As if it was part of an organism.

As if it was alive.

Loki..

From the corner of her eyes she saw America, who had landed next to her. As she glanced over to Mobius she couldn't help but smile, because with the oversized spacesuit he looked like a ladybug, awkwardly lying on its back..or a beached whale.

With Thors nod she reinsured that the god would help the analyst stand up, even though the thunderer looked a bit pale himself. After all America did warn them that it would be highly probable to get sick.

But all of this didn't matter now.

Even her own queasiness was not worth mentioning.

She was here..

And the moment she truly grasped that it had worked, she also realized how bad she had wanted this to happen..

..and how well she had deluded herself.

Even the little dizziness she felt when standing up and which made her first few steps a bit shaky and unsteady, couldn't slow her down.

Because she had a goal in mind.

And she was so close..

She could hear Mobius muffled voice from behind, calling her name.

"Sylvie, we made it!"

What felt odd was the fact that they couldn't see the tree and the light seemed to be different, too. The branches, which had guided her in her dreams, were also missing. But then she recalled Mobius words about the atmosphere and that it would be different and not comparable to their dreams.

And then there was fog..

Fog, which soon surrounded her completely and if she had seen America beside her a few moments ago, now she could barely see her hands.

The goddess tried to ignore the feeling which imposed itself on her more and more.

That's not a dream anymore, Sylvie..it's reality. And soon it will all make sense.

She prepared herself mentally to step outside the fog, meeting the man again to whom she had said goodbye almost a year ago..without words, just one last look and a shake of the head.

A headshake, which, like before in the Void, as he decided to play the bait for Alioth, wasn't really meant to stop him from doing it.

Not because she didn't want to..but because she knew that it wasn't possible to disabuse him.

It hadn't been possible in the Void, because without a distraction, they wouldn't have stood a chance against Alioth and no one could have guessed that the other, the old Loki, would come and help them.

And it hadn't been possible at the Loom, because he had started something that couldn't be undone.

The fail-safe had been destroyed, the branches were dying, the multiverse perished before their eyes..before it even had the chance to fully unfold and rise to all its glory.

And although she was mad at him for making this decision alone and even if she still couldn't fully explain what had happened at all in this moment, his gaze, when he had turned his head for the very last time, made clear, that he had to do this.

And now she would see him again.

Sylvie closed her eyes, took one last deep breath and then she stepped outside the fog.

..and her heart skipped a beat.

Although she had sent so many people here over the eons, for her, this place had always stayed a profound mystery.

All she knew was that getting sent there was a death sentence.

A death sentence which she had gladly signed countless times without even batting an eye.

"Nothing comes back from there"

But as it turned out, doors could open in the most unlikely places..

And so she stood here, on the highest balcony of the pyramid and looked outside to the sheer endless scenery with its conglomeration of lost treasures and long forgotten memories.

From up here she had a great view over everything that had been..

A part of her own past.

On the horizon something started to gather and when the violet light came closer little by little, the smile on her face grew wider.

This wasn't her death sentence..

..it was her reincarnation.

Sylvie could neither grasp what was happening before their eyes, nor did she notice anything else that was going on around her.

It was Mobius hand which pulled her out of her trance.

She looked at the analyst who was standing beside her now and just like her, he couldn't believe his eyes. His gaze seemed lost, his mouth half open, his hand on her shoulder apparently meant not only to comfort her, but also himself.

"What happened here?" he asked unbelieving, shaking his head, "that..that can't be real.."

Next to them Thor arrived, no less confused, "What is the meaning of this? Is this even the right place?!"

America looked back and forth between all of them, "Judging by your reactions, this place shouldn't look like this, should it?"

Sylvie had to gather up all her power to remain standing, even though her weak knees urged her to do something else entirely. Basically she wanted to sink to the ground, bury her head in her hands..or preferably straight away deep in the ground.

All hopes, so many questions, all those unspoken wishes..

Had they all fallen prey to an illusion?

And if so, why all those dreams? What was the point of this being guiding her through Lokis past..

..if he was dead?

And shouldn't they all be dead by now, if Yggdrasil..if Loki really wasn't alive anymore?

The worldtree wasn't green anymore, nothing was illuminated..instead it was grey, lifeless, its branches rigid and stiff and everywhere around them were these strange particles.

Parts of the dead branches..

Lifeless matter..

Unfinished stories..

Mobius hand squeezed her shoulder a bit and when she looked at him, he nodded encouraging. He was right, it made no sense to stay here.

Even if she was afraid what they might find down there..

With every step they took, the picture before their eyes was getting more and more clear and at the same time the sting in Sylvies heart got bigger and bigger.

She had a lump in her throat and fought hard to hold back tears.

"This can't be real.." the goddess mumbled quietly, touching the particles, grinding them between her fingers. They were like thick ash, once served their purpose as part of a gigantic fire..now only dead witnesses of a once living blaze.

Then, finally, they got to the center of the tree. The throne was still there, high above, nestled in the almost fossilized looking branches.

The heart of the tree..

"Lok.."

Someone was sitting there..

But it wasn't Loki.

The black-haired man with the silver strand was sitting there in the middle with a hardened expression almost like the tree itself, legs crossed, one hand supporting his head, the other on the armrest of the throne.

"Ah, company.."

His voice sounded as presumptuous as his facial expression was.

As if he was above all things.

And like it happened in her dreams and despite the fact that it wasn't a living tree in front of them, the branches started to take him down.

Even before the throne reached the ground, the man in the blue garment was standing up, floating to the ground, while the red cape with the stand-up collar was moving a little too much..as if it had a life of its own.

When his eyes met the ones of the young sorceress in the middle, the expression in his seemed to lose the arrogance for a moment.

"America.."

Before he could say another word, the young woman ran towards him, greeting and hugging him with so much joy, like he was an old, long missed friend, "Stephen! We looked for you..everywhere..Where have you been?!"

If not before, now it was obvious who was standing in front of them.

"Strictly speaking I'm not even here", the wizard answered, while he hugged America back more warmly than expected given his arrogant behavior.

He let his gaze roam over all of them, "Dr. Stephen Strange.." he introduced himself, then nodded at the god of thunder, "Thor Odinson, long time no see.."

"Friend Strange, good to see you again", Thor replied with a sincere smile and it was obvious that there was some sort of connection, shared experiences in the past, maybe battles in which they had fought together.

"Mobius M. Mobius", the analyst mumbled into his helmet, raising his padded arm awkwardly to greet the sorcerer.

Sylvie took a few steps forward, her gaze challenging, "What are you doing here?" she blurted out, her voice full of disappointment and irritation, while she made no effort to introduce herself first, "you shouldn't even be here.."

Strange raised an eyebrow and looked at her as if he couldn't believe that she talked to him like this, "I was about to ask the same thing..and yes, that's what I wanted to say as well."

The goddess understood nothing, "The center of the multiverse isn't guarded by you, but by.."

"Loki Laufeyson, the god of stories..", he interrupted and finished her sentence, "there's an easy explanation for that - this is NOT the center of the multiverse. At least not the version you guys were looking for."

"What do you mean by that?!" she pressed him, desperately looking for anwers.

The bearded sorcerer let one of the gnarled, rigid branches slide through his fingers, while he looked at her with a reproachful gaze, "You caused quite the chaos. I hope you're aware of that."

Sylvie felt anger arise because of the tone in his voice and the arrogance behind it. The way he spoke to her wasn't even close to Wongs pragmatic, unbiased personality.

And she just wasn't having it.

Moreover from someone who didn't even know her and who, with his perfectly trimmed beard and the sophisticated magical cape, seemingly believed he could speak to others like this.

But he wasn't done with his condescension, "Your desicion was the act of a stubborn child, not thinking about the consequences of her actions."

Sylvie crossed her arms in front of her chest, really struggled to control herself and not go at his throat right away, "I gave free will back to everyone in the multiverse. Everything that was done before was mass murder.."

Strange snorted, "Naive children interrupting a powerful spell and endanger everything..egoistic witches, who can't accept that their made-up world isn't real..a demigoddess, who changes the reality of the whole multiverse because of her own trauma..do you kids have ANY idea what damage you're causing with your infantile actions?!"

Mobius was the one who interrupted, before Sylvie could even react to the insult, knowing full well that the situation could escalate further at any moment, "Dr. Strange, you said this isn't the version of the center we were looking for. What do you mean by that?"

Strange and Sylvie stared at each other for a few more seconds, before the wizard shifted his attention and looked at Mobius, "What you see here.." he let his gaze roam over the tree and its branches and looked back to the four travellers with the most serious expression on his face.

"..is one of eleven million versions, in which this whole thing ends exactly like this."

His words sunk in all of them and for a long moment there was absolute silence. They all stood there with open mouths and the only thing which was audible was the quiet whispering of a dying tree and its branches.

Thor was the first one who found his voice again.

"Does..does this mean that in those eleven million versions.. my brother is dead?"

There was a bitter smile on the wizards lips. He emphasized every word of his next sentence, as if he had to get a message across to a child, which it shouldn't forget under no circumstances.

As if he had to explain the hopelessness of his siuation to a dying man.

"That means that the whole multiverse is dead, Thor."

For others the creature was nothing but a monster.

A merciless, cruel monstosity, which devoured everything that crossed its path.

With a twisted smile she thought that maybe this was the exact reason why she felt connected to it.

For a long time they had been worried that the food source for the living storm would run dry and that they would be forced to improvise, find other alternatives.

But right now there was still plenty of food for it.

Moreover something seemed to happen lately, which she observed with a certain delight.

Even now some confused being was waking up a few hundred meters away in the desert, a moment before living his life, now stranded in the middle of nowhere. Which could only mean one thing..

..there was pruning again at the TVA.

"Seems as if not everyone wants to submit to the new order", she noticed with satisfaction.

The violet light was getting closer and closer and with it lightening and rumbling thunder.

The atmosphere was charged with electricity which emerged from the powerful creature and when she felt the wind arise, she closed her eyes.

It was the wind of destruction..

But also the wind of change.

She felt it and it electrified her in a way that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Desperation had never been one of her weaknesses and she wasn't a person who would lay down her weapons without a fight..but for some time she had almost lost hope.

All of a sudden she had been an outcast, thrown out of her own world, forced to let go of something she had believed in for eons, dammed to this godforsaken place.

But it wasn't in her nature to give up and so when she felt the wind of destruction in her face, she ran..she ran as fast as she could, determination in her eyes and the strong will to survive this.

Survive to take revenge..

To find her way back to the top..

..to build the utopia she dreamed of, to which she had dedicated her life.

The utopia that had been promised to her.

The utopia she deserved.

And so she had disappeared for hours, days, weeks..gone into hiding in old bunkers, abandoned caves, lost houses. What she had eaten, what had ensured her survival, shouldn't be mentioned here.

It was just a means to an end.

And the end, the outcome, the victory was a thing she could always see crystal clear before her eyes, no matter how hopeless, how dispirited she had felt from time to time.

For a moment she had been alone, lost..

..until she was found.

And the wind of destruction had changed into the wind of change.

While she was watching Alioth grow to his full size, devouring his confused, utterly scared prey, someone approached her from behind,"His highness is back from his mission and wants to see you."

With one last look at the creature, which already headed back towards the horizon, taking thunder and wind with him, she turned around and nodded at the servant.

Straightening out her uniform, Ravonna Renslayer smiled and walked towards the throne room.