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Nightmare

Veles groaned as he stirred. His whole body ached, his head was pounding, and his back and shoulder stung. He held his left hand to his head, wishing he had the ability to cure himself of his hangover as he tried to force his sluggish, abused brain to work through the pain and leftover drunkenness to recall what had happened.

He remembered they'd been getting ready for a fight. Maybe he'd taken a beating? No, he definitely had. It had been Ultron. Lots of Ultron. Thousands. It had been brutal. And if he felt this bad, Daredevil must be in agony. He stopped as something nagged at him and drove an icy spear into his chest. Lasers. Pain. Charred scraps of a human body. Daredevil.

"Shit," he croaked.

Daredevil was gone. He'd lost another friend. No, not one. They'd lost them both. Daredevil and Thena. Val must have been heart broken. So then, they'd gotten drunk. Obliterated, by the feeling of his hangover, and the fact that he'd blacked out, which hadn't happened in so long. But he knew he blacked out, because his memories turned fuzzy after he and Val had begun to drink, and then vanished completely. Still, it was enough information to account for his condition. His migraine from the alcohol, his aching body from Ultron using him like a piñata, the heavy feeling on his chest from being exhausted enough to feel weighed down. He frowned. No, that wasn't right. It was only parts of his body feeling weighed down, mostly his chest and his right side.

He looked down, and his jaw dropped. There lay Val, sleeping peacefully, hair a mess, the skin around her eyes red and irritated from crying, naked as the day she was born. He stared for minutes, brain struggling to comprehend this anomaly. He remembered drinking, but he didn't remember taking off his clothes, or having sex with Val, and yet, even a blind man could see they definitely had. He looked around the room for the first time, seeing their clothes had gotten scattered all across the room, covering the majority of the furniture and decorating the floor amidst dozens of empty bottles. Actually, all of his bottles were empty. They'd run out of alcohol.

He turned his head back to the ceiling, only to groan as his head throbbed agonizingly. Val shifted in response, whimpering, then groaning, holding a hand to her own head, then to the axis of her thighs.

"Damn, Thena," Val groaned pitifully. "I think you were a little too rough that..."

Veles saw the memories flood her mind and her eyes watered before she frowned in confusion, looking up at him. Understanding filled her eyes, and she set her head back down, whimpering in pain again.

"Good morning," Veles croaked, finally.

"Hey," Val groaned. "I'm gonna be honest, I don't remember last night after about where our drinking competition started."

"We had a drinking competition?" Veles asked. "Well, that explains the hangover." He winced as his head throbbed. "And the blackout."

Val nodded, wincing and regretting moving. "I take it you don't remember either?"

"No," Veles confirmed. "So, how are we going to get something for our headaches?"

"I'm planning to sleep it off," Val said. "And since I can't move, that means you are, too."

"Sounds fair," Veles agreed.

Val fell still again, but despite his every attempt, Veles couldn't find sleep. The others' memories kept filtering into his brain, keeping him awake. However, after a while, Val sighed, pushing herself up enough to look down at him.

"Why can't I sleep?" Val asked.

"It's probably the migraine," Veles sighed. "I can't sleep either."

Val sighed, nodding and wincing. "I think I can make it to my room, by now, if you'd be willing to help."

"Fuck," Veles groaned. "Fine. Let's go."

Val nodded, struggling to her feet, and Veles joined her. Both of them were unsteady from their migraines, and as they staggered and stumbled toward Val's room, neither bothering to get dressed, Veles held a hand to his throbbing head while Val held a hand to her stomach, groaning lowly every few feet. Finally, they reached Val's room and Veles eased her onto the bed before picking up a bottle of vodka. After a moment to gauge his tolerance against how much his head was pounding, he drank half the bottle, then handed it to Val, who drank the first quarter instantly, then sipped at the rest. As she did, Veles sat beside her, leaning back against the wall as he waited for his headache to fade.

"Check the drawer of the nightstand," Val said.

Veles complied, pulling the drawer open, and sighed in relief, taking out headache meds and nausea meds for each of them. Val thanked him and swallowed hers, then passed him the vodka bottle to wash his pills down with. Once the bottle was empty, and they'd both gotten some medicine, their bodies began to complain about existing more quietly and both of them climbed into Val's bed. For a moment, Veles tried to keep on his side, but when Val lay herself on the left side of his chest, he wrapped his arms around her. She tucked her face into his neck, and Veles silently sighed in comfort, feeling Val almost instantly drift off and following after her a moment later. A few hours later, when both of them stirred, their stomachs had settled, and their migraines were manageable. So, naturally, both of them took more headache meds, then began to get cleaned up.

Veles returned to his room to shower and brush his teeth, then stepped out of the bathroom while unballing his chosen shirt just as Val entered the room wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He nodded a greeting, pulling his shirt on, and set about pulling the sheets off of his bed to wash them.

"Listen, about last night," Val finally began after watching him strip the bed of sheets and blankets, through them in a dirty laundry hamper and remake the bed but fuss over the way one specific corner was folded for three minutes.

"Yes, about that," Veles finally sighed, sitting on the bed. "We needed a distraction and a way to work out our feelings, we had only each other to use, you scarred my back. Problem solved."

"I what?" Val asked, a smirk playing at her lips.

Veles turned away from her, pulling his shirt up to display his back, which was covered in scratches that weren't bleeding and would definitely heal, but that also would definitely scar. Val snorted in amusement.

"Sorry," Val smirked. "I don't remember that, and I'm not usually a scratcher."

"What about a biter?" Veles asked, pulling the shoulder of his shirt out of the way and revealing a complete set of teeth marks that had broken skin and may or may not also scar.

Val raised an eyebrow. "Well, evidently you must be quite something, if I was scratching and biting you." She sighed for a moment before looking up at him seriously, or at least, as seriously as she could while he was wearing the fuzzy, pink, bunny slippers she'd gotten him a while ago on his birthday. "It wasn't-"

Before she could finish, Veles' TemPad began to beep and shriek erratically, Val tensing. However, Veles was trembling as he lifted it and opened it. Then, before she could even ask what it was, he'd opened a Timedoor and sprinted through, leaving the slippers, and Val, behind.

Veles stared at the scene before him in shock. Thor was struggling, and failing, to kill Kurse. Siff was struggling against the Dark Elves, and Loki, green-skinned demon Loki, sat off to the side, still bound in chains. But the TVA had arrived, and in force. About fifty Hunters and Minutemen swarmed into the Dark Elves, quickly beginning to Prune them all. But they were too late for Sif. Just as when Veles had seen this in his own time, she raised her shield arm out of the way of her sword arm and slashed a Dark Elf, only for another to fire from her left, slipping the shot under her arm and into her torso, but it was lower than in Veles' timeline. It wasn't an instant death this time, so he charged across the battlefield instantly. A handful of Dark Elves rushed him, but he hurled a fan of throwing knives like those he wore in his knife belt, killing them all before dropping into a slid next to Sif. She stared at him in confusion as he placed his hands over her wound, beginning to heal her. He'd duplicated his armor, but the mask was down, currently, allowing them to see his face.

"Who are you?" a voice asked, Veles seeing a Minuteman's shoes in his peripheral vision. "Answer me, or I'll arrest you along with the Variant!"

Veles' right arm snapped out, a knife appearing in a flash of light and streaking across the distance into the Minuteman's throat. Instantly, the rest of the Hunters and Minutemen swarmed toward him from the right. He growled in annoyance, pulling his Time Stick off of his back and activated it, then hurled it toward them as he duplicated it a dozen times over. A second later, all of the TVA forces present were Pruned. A moment after that, Sif was fully healed, though she'd lost consciousness from blood loss, as he couldn't duplicate her blood until after her wound was sealed.

"Who are...Loki?" Thor asked, holding a wound in his side but having barely, just barely, beaten Thor.

"Brother, I need you to hold something for me," Veles said, picking up the reset charge the first Minuteman had dropped, pressing the switch, and placing it in Thor's hands.

"What is it?" Thor asked.

"It's a reset charge," Veles said, gently picking up Sif and opening a Timedoor. "It's going to erase everything."

"Erase?" Thor asked. "What do you-"

The Timedoor closed behind Veles and Thor dropped the reset charge, only for it to go off as it landed.

Veles gently sat Sif down, glancing around the field to ensure it was safe, despite knowing that no one would be in it from one hour ago all the way until it was destroyed in twenty-four hours. He returned his gaze to Sif, double-checking that her wound was sealed before forming a damp washcloth to clean her face with. There was dirt, sweat, grime, and blood all over her, and he cleaned her exposed skin gently. She would still need a proper bath, and for the places her armor covered to be cleaned, but he wouldn't be doing that. Right now, he was too busy trying not to be too hopeful for when she woke up. He reminded himself that this was still Lady Sif, and Lady Sif had always hated Loki, because Loki was scum.

He waited for hours, all the way through daylight and past sunset before Sif finally stirred again. Veles sighed in relief as her face scrunched up, then relaxed as she opened her eyes, only to frown in confusion.

"Where are we?" Sif asked.

"You wouldn't have heard of it," Veles said gently. "This place was destroyed and forgotten long before either of us were born."

Sif frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about? Also, where did you come from? You're definitely not the Loki I know. He turned himself into a demon as a prank, but never figured out how to turn himself back."

Veles grimaced when he realized he'd thought of that prank but had decided not to try it. "It's a bit...confusing. You see, I came here from a space that exists outside of time, a place housing an organization known as the Time Variance Authority, the TVA for short."

"Oh, naturally," Sif said, disbelievingly.

Veles sighed. "It's true. They monitor the flow of time and keep things happening according to the flow they deem as proper, what they call the Sacred Timeline. Any time someone makes a choice or does something or doesn't do something that alters that flow of time, they destroy it, though they call it Pruning." He duplicated a Time Stick. "The glowing end of this has the ability to Prune small things or people, but not entire timelines. Watch."

He Pruned a rock and Sif's eyes widened, watching him more alertly.

"I won't hurt you," Veles promised, letting the Time Stick vanish. "I wouldn't have saved you if I intended to kill you. The TVA erased your entire world."

"They what?" Sif asked.

"I am truly sorry, Sif," Veles apologized. "I only had enough time to rescue you."

"Why did you save me?" Sif asked. "Why not Thor? Why not yourself?"

"Thor was too far away because I was already healing you and then had to leave," Veles lied. "And the Loki of your timeline is the one who caused the timeline to branch in the first place."

"You should have just let me die too!" Sif snapped.

Veles' face fell as the lonely feeling he was so familiar with invaded his chest. "I know how you feel. I lost my own timeline as well. But in mine...it was all my fault."

"What do you mean?" Sif asked.

Veles took a steadying breath, only for tears to fall as well. "I caused a branch in the timeline by refusing to pull a prank on the person for whom my heart yearned. The TVA arrived and gave me an option. Either I behave as cruelly as possible and force everyone to hate and distrust me and to all be waiting for a fair reason to kill me, or else the TVA would Prune, would incinerate her and everyone else I cared for, then the entire timeline, leaving me alone to live with that pain."

Sif covered her mouth as she gasped quietly. "And you let them be pruned? You worthless piece of-"

"No," Veles shook his head. "I played my part. I lied to them, I betrayed them, I played them for fools. I did everything I was supposed to do. I intentionally made the person I love most hate me, all in the name of protecting her. But even after that first time, I was hesitant to behave as cruelly as I was meant to, so the TVA had to redirect me several times. But it worked, for a while. The timeline followed its proper course for the most part, close enough that they allowed us a probationary existence in hopes that we would realign with their Sacred Timeline. Except, we never did. My hesitance to be cruel had caused very small subtle changes. Changes so small they were imperceptible. Until they weren't. In my timeline, Odin's will to live had weakened, and when news of my mother's death reached him, it was too much, and he died. On the other hand, Kurse, the mutated Dark Elf Thor was fighting, had had his will to live strengthened by the news that Odin was dead. At that same time, Thor tried to duck when he should have tried to dodge, and Kurse punched him hard enough to break his neck and kill him. And...And then you had, somewhere along the way, developed a tendency to start nearly all of your engagements from your left, not your right. During the fight I saved you from, Sif was shot, as you were. But unlike yours, her wound was higher. Her lungs and heart were simply missing, along with a section of her spine. It killed her instantly. I couldn't save her, and when the TVA returned, they Pruned everything and dragged me away. But instead of Pruning me, they attempted to wipe my memory, and when that didn't work because I was immune, they instead broke my will and made me one of their strongest enforces. I now Prune the most dangerous of branch timelines. Ones which will result in the destruction of everything."

Sif was silent for a while as she absorbed this information. "You saved me...because I was the one that you were in love with."

Veles nodded silently.

Sif sighed. "You...You understand that I'm not...the Sif you knew, right? I was in love with Thor, and the Loki I knew was scum. I wanted nothing more to do with him than to watch him die, and when I see your face, I see his, before the transformation, back when he was at his most cruel."

Veles nodded. "I understand. I...Not that it matters, but I gave up the name Loki when my world was destroyed. I go by Veles, now."

Sif nodded. "You're right, it doesn't matter. You're Loki, so I'm going to address you as such."

Veles nodded, swallowing hard, just as a Timedoor opened. Veles was on his feet with his usual knives in his hands instantly, hearing Sif gasp about something, but Veles relaxed as Val walked through the door, unarmed.

"Val," Veles sighed. "How did you find us?"

Val snorted. "I know you, Veles. You're my best friend. I know you come here to be alone, and assuming my theory about you finding a Lady Sif to save was correct, I knew you'd come here to hide because it's peaceful and abandoned enough for you to be here with her without the TVA coming to snoop, and because there's plenty of warning here for you to bail before this planet's destroyed. It's the perfect hideout, as long as we bring our own food and drinks."

"We?" Veles blinked. "Our?"

Val snorted. "What, did you think that just because you rescued a Sif you'd be free of me? No such luck, Veles. Wherever you go from here, I'm coming with you."

Veles smiled slightly, gratefully.

"Besides," Val shrugged, smirking. "Sif's one of the sexiest chicks I've ever seen." Her smirk grew as Sif's cheeks flushed and Veles scowled at her. "If I don't stick with you, I can't steal her heart."

Sif sighed, shaking her head. "I haven't even said if I'm going to be staying with Loki, yet."

"You haven't?" Val asked, Sif shaking her head. "Goddamnit, Veles! Why do I trust you?"

"Because I'm the only one who can keep up with your drinking," Veles reasoned.

Val rolled her eyes. "Something like that, yeah." She sat down, forming a triangle with them. "So, listen. I know ditching the TVA sounds nice. I'd love to get away, too. But there's something you need to remember, Veles."

"I know," Veles nodded. "Anywhere the three of us go, they're going to be able to track us, because we'll be creating a branch in the timeline. Nowhere will be safe."

"So, what, we should join the TVA?" Sif asked. "The organization that just erased my whole life?"

"It's not an easy prospect, I know," Veles admitted. "But we wouldn't be on the run, and you wouldn't be alone."

"And, full disclosure, they'd erase your memories, so you wouldn't even remember your home timeline, so you could just tell Veles to leave it like that, if you thought it would be easier," Val offered. "Or, if you think you'd be able to stand working for the TVA with your memories, he could unblock them after the TVA wipes them."

Sif considered. "I need time to think about it."

Veles looked up just as the Celestials fired the first shots. He nodded, opening a Timedoor backward to twenty four hours from destruction. Sif hesitated, then followed him and Val through, looking around, then up at the sky, which was just starting to lighten.

"This is the same place," Sif frowned.

"Yes," Veles nodded. "A little less than twenty four hours earlier. As I said, this place is going to be destroyed soon, but if we keep skipping backward, we can stay here indefinitely."

Sif nodded, and Val left, returning a few moments later with her arms laden with alcohol. Sif smiled, in spite of herself, and accepted a bottle, all of them beginning to drink. Then, finally, Sif spoke for the first time since they'd begun to drink.

"Your daggers," Sif said, looking to Veles. "The ones concealed in your armor. Where'd you get them?"

Veles pulled out his favorite daggers, the ones he'd based off of the one his brother had given him. "I created them with my magic, but they're replicas of a dagger that Thor gave me when the Dark Elves attacked Asgard. We were going to try and fight them in order to save his human girlfriend from them, and he gave me this knife when he told me he was choosing to trust me to watch his back."

Sif reached back and withdrew the knife Veles was talking about from the back of her belt, the only difference being the slightly shorter blade. Veles had never even noticed it.

"That's it!" Veles gasped. "Where did...he gave it to you, right?"

Sif nodded. "He said it was a gift for the person he trusted more than anyone else."

Veles nodded slightly, staring at the knife before Sif sighed, returning it to its sheath, then standing just as the usual lights began to race across the sky.

"I'll join," Sif decided. "But Loki, I mean Veles, I want you to restore my memories."

"Alright," Veles nodded. "Magic doesn't work at the TVA, so we'll have to wait until we're out and about, but I'll do it as soon as I can."

Sif nodded.

"One more thing," Veles said. "They'll take anything you have, so if you want to keep your sword and shield, I'll need to hold onto it for you."

Sif narrowed her eyes, then nodded, passing him her sword and shield, then Thor's knife. "If you don't give these back to me, and I ever remember you have them, I'll kill you."

"Don't worry," Veles promised, all three objects vanishing in a flash of light. "As soon as I've returned your memories, I'll return your weapons."

Sif nodded, and Val opened a Timedoor. They collected the alcohol and passed through the door, dropping everything off in Val's room before heading to the briefing room where they could make any calls Miss Minutes instructed them to.

"Alright, Miss Minutes," Veles said. "You can come out now. I know how curious you are."

Miss Minutes appeared off to the side with a high "TING" and turned toward Sif.

"Alright, Veles, why is she here?" Veles asked.

"Simple," Veles shrugged. "Her world was Pruned, she was dying, and Val and I need to restock on Special Forces. So, I healed her and brought her here as a new recruit for the Special Forces of the TVA, which don't officially exist."

Miss Minutes narrowed her eyes, humming thoughtfully. "You understand that you'll be erasing branch timelines like the one you come from?"

Sif nodded.

"What powers do you have?" Miss Minutes asked. "Beyond being an Asgardian, I mean."

"I'm the greatest swordswoman there's ever been," Sif said.

"Misplaced pride and confidence, then," Miss Minutes noted. "V-One-Four-Two, do you support her recruitment?"

"I do," Val nodded.

"Very well," Miss Minutes said, just before a Timedoor appeared below Sif, who dropped out of sight instantly. "I'll have her reset and outfitted as Special Forces, then bring her back to one of the empty rooms."

"Requiem's is ready for a new member," Val offered.

Miss Minutes nodded and vanished, and Veles and Val headed for Thena and Daredevil's rooms to clean them out. Veles had stripped and cleaned Daredevil's room in minutes, and headed to Thena's room, only to find Val sitting on the bed, crying. He sighed, sitting beside her and pulled her into a hug. She cried into him for a few long minutes before pulling back.

"Sorry," Val said. "It's just..."

"I know," Veles nodded. "She was important to you."

Val nodded. "We should get this cleaned up before Sif comes back."

"Val," Veles said before she could get up. "For the record, it wasn't just because I was drunk, at least for me."

Val nodded. "I know." She leaned over, kissing him for a few moments. "It wasn't just because I was drunk, either." She kissed him again, but there was a note of finality to it. "But I know how you feel about me and how you feel about her, and I know what her being back means."

"I'm sorry," Veles apologized.

"I'm not," Val smiled. "I told you when you restored my memories, I understand how you feel. I get how you're feeling now. I understand, and I'm not mad that you're inevitably going to choose her. You just have to promise me you won't make me drink alone from now on."

"I won't," Veles smiled. "As long as you promise you won't actually try to steal Sif."

Val rased her hands placatingly. "All yours. She really is beautiful and sexy as hell, but I'm not going to step on your toes. She's all yours." Val hummed thoughtfully. "Speaking of which, her world was almost yours, right?"

"More or less," Veles shrugged. "Why?"

"Can you modify memories?" Val asked. "I don't mean make her be in love with you, but maybe swap her Loki with you, and the past you shared, so that she'll at least have seen that you were a good guy in between the pranks the TVA was forcing you to pull."

"As helpful as that would be, no, I can't," Veles said. "I can only work with what memories are already there."

Val frowned. "Have you tried?"

It was Veles' turn to frown. "A couple of times I tried with humans, but it did nothing but bring up their memories over and over again. I could never project any of my own memories, and the best I could do to alter theirs was to project myself into a memoryscape as I pull them into it as well, then interact with them there."

"I see," Val nodded, then leaned close to his ear to whisper. "We could find you a hapless Minuteman to practice on somewhere the TVA won't find him."

Veles grimaced. "I think I'll pass on that. Torture and kidnapping aren't really my thing, despite the TVA's best efforts."

Val nodded, and they set about stripping and cleaning Thena's room, and just as they finished, Miss Minutes appeared and summoned them to the armory to meet their new teammate. So, a few more minutes, they reached the armory and found Sif waiting for them in black yoga pants, thigh-high, black, armored boots with 3-inch heels, gauntlets that ran up to just above her elbow on the outside of her arms, then a cuirass with a dark, dull, reddish-brown over each breast and down the front of her torso to the bottom of the armor where it followed along the bottom. The armor had black along her sides and back, except for one strip of orange barely three inches thick that ran around behind her about level with her bottom ribs. There was an orange cloth wrapped around her waist and tied in the front then falling behind her but cut from the bottom to make a pair of points instead of a single train. The same cloth extended up her back before wrapping over her shoulders and connecting to a pair of black circle clasps. The armor bore a raised, black collar around her neck, black pauldrons, and suited her well, although Veles felt she looked better in black and red than black and brown.

"Allow me to introduce you both to S-One-Seven!" Miss Minutes chimed. "S-One-Seven, meet A-Zero-One, also known as Veles," she paused as Veles nodded in greeting, "and V-One-Four-Two, also known as Val."

Val also nodded in greeting, and Miss Minutes wished Sif good luck before vanishing. Val and Veles nodded to each other, and Val opened a Timedoor to their field where they shut off all of their TemPads.

"What are we doing?" Sif asked. "Why'd you shut them off?"

"So that Miss MInutes can't hear us," Val explained. "Hold still for just a moment."

"You'll understand in a minute," Veles promised, cupping her face.

Green light shone from where his hands touched her head and from her eyes for a moment before she let out a shuddering breath, nodding.

"Thank you, Loki," Sif said. "Veles."

"It's important you don't call me Loki while the TemPad's are on," Veles warned her, giving her shield, sword, and dagger back to her. "Miss Minutes may figure out that I gave you your memories instead of just your weapons, but if we're not obvious about it and don't make it an issue, neither will she."

Sif nodded. "Shall we?"

The others nodded, and they turned their TemPads back on before heading back through and beginning to show Sif around.

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