Chapter 5
“Okay, so.” Brunnhilde took a swig of beer and passed it onto Sif. “Is he a tree or is he inside a tree?”
“I don’t know,” Thor said. It was rather the question of the day. “But we have to find that tree.”
“Makes sense,” she said, while taking the beer back. “And then what? Cut it down and haul it home?”
Sif hummed. From when he first told her about the time wizard and his quest to that very moment, a varying degree of skepticism was etched in her face. Or it might just be confusion, since well, it was all rather confusing. “I don’t think it’s that kind of tree.”
“What kind of tree is it?”
‘The magical kind,” Thor said.
“What kind of magic?”
“Time and space magic.”
Love lowered her juice pack. “How did uncle Loki become a magical space-time tree?”
“I’ve been told he used the branches of time to build it, and may or may not have merged with it. We have the imprint of the tree at the place he did that, but we don’t know where he took it afterwards. Or...where it took him.”
“The tree walked away?”
“More like, it disappeared into a portal inside a void.” Thor sighed. Just when he was starting to feel like he understood it, he was forced to explain it. Some things just made more sense when you didn’t have to say them aloud. “But we’re going to look if there’s someone somewhere at some time who can help us figure out what exactly happened.”
Brunnhilde wiped her mouth. “Have you tried this strange fellow?”
“Strange fellow? Who?”
“You know, strange.”
“Sorry, what?”
Mobius tore away from the window he’d been staring out of for the past ten minutes. His frown only deepened as he spoke. “Dr. Stephen Strange. A keeper of the time stone in a lot of timelines. But we got him on the records as being rather… unhelpful.”
“Oh wait, I know him.” The wizard that had turned Loki into a business card and showed them the way to Father. “He helped me find my father once. I’m sure he can help us now as well.”
Mobius pressed his lips into a straight line. “I think the situations are slightly different.”
“We can always ask. Also, it’s on this timeline, so I can do what I want.”
“Hmm, your brother had that attitude too, but without any conditionals.”
“I know. What of it?”
“He ended up a tree, in case you missed that.”
Strange listened for three sentences before cutting him off. “Absolutely not.”
Thor sighed. “I didn’t even get to the end. That was barely the middle.”
“I am well aware of the one beyond time,” Strange said. “That it turns out to be your brother… however ironic it is, explains some matters concerning the state of the fabric of the multiverse.”
“Loki has nothing to do with how the fabric of any verse works,” Thor said. First Yggdrasil, now the fabric of multiple universes, and something beyond time. It was just Loki, not some sort of entity. “It’s more like he got tangled up in it, and now we need to get him out.”
“Preferably in one piece, but we’ll work with what we can get,” Sif said with her typical sense of humor. You really had to know her to hear that she was mostly joking. Or see that she quickly lifted her left arm.
Strange pressed his lips in a line and fixed his eyes on Mobius. “If you are who I think you are, you should know better than this.”
“We don’t know anything,” Mobius said, casually almost. “He went into a field of space radiation, walked into a portal, and never came back out. For now, we’re just trying to figure out what happened. After that, we can look at what we’re going to do about it.”
“There’s nothing to be done,” Strange said. “What he did cannot and should not be undone.”
“Why?” Thor demanded. If people kept telling him to give up and go home, at least one of them should provide him with a coherent reason. And not throw furniture.
“I don’t know what preceded this turn of events, but when your brother encased himself inside the tree of time, he became - for better or worse- the one beyond time. The most powerful creature in reality. Even I cannot tell you what would happen if you take him out of the equation.”
Loki was powerful, yes. The most powerful creature in existence though? No, not by a long shot. “Loki isn’t this guy beyond time. He just got stuck in that tree-place.”
Strange sighed. “And there he shall remain.”
Thor looked over as Sif touched his shoulder, but she said nothing. Just gave him this intense look. He’d have to ask her about that later. For now, he turned back to Strange. “If we’d go into that tree, could we leave?”
“Presuming you don’t die in the attempt, probably.”
“So there is a way in there?”
Strange narrowed his eyes. “I think it’s time you leave.”
“From the tree?”
“From this house.” Strange walked the three of them out without leaving room for objection. Sif stepped out first and the second Thor set foot outside, Strange told Mobius to wait up and the door shut between them. The attempt to force it open revealed it was magically sealed. Stupid wizards.
The door fell shut with a shrill creak. By the time Mobius looked over his shoulder, Dr.Strange still had his hand in the middle of a door-closing gesture. His face was about as expressive as a brick wall. “I don’t think he quite comprehends the situation.”
Mobius nodded. “Yeah, we’re all just in that same boat.”
Dr. Strange gave him an odd look. “You cannot help him. None of you can. Thor most definitely cannot.”
“You’re not the first to tell me that.” He folded his arms. “But I have the feeling you might be the first who’s going to give me a comprehensive reason.”
“You know full well that he is the one beyond time, even if Thor cannot comprehend it.” He paused. “And his lady friend seems to be only a single step ahead of him.”
“Look, before I set foot in this house, I never heard the phrase ‘the one beyond time’.”
“Time works differently in your TVA,” Strange said, lifting a conceited eyebrow. “Before these events, I am quite certain this information did not exist on your sacred timeline.”
Somehow that made sense. Except, that went against some base rules of reality. But apart from the details, that was an interesting statement. “Okay, you know stuff. Great. Can we get to the point?”
“He cannot return, Mobius.” His face softened. “And nothing of mortal birth could hope to stay and live where he does.”
The thing that was getting under his skin there, that sounded awfully much like Sylvie had told him. If two people arrive at the same conclusions separate from each other…But also “I never told you my name.”
“Which was quite rude of you, frankly. But perhaps you should divert your attention towards managing the Loki on my porch.”
“The most powerful being in reality,” Sif repeated the sorcerer’s words. Loki indeed seemed to be hatching a plot. Somehow, he’d snatched up a vacuum of power and strung along the whole of the TVA while he was at it. “What if that was the point?”
Thor frowned and sighed sharply. “What do you mean?”
“I just couldn’t figure out why he would do this to himself. When has he ever done something that he didn’t think would benefit him?”
“Sif, I don’t want to hear it.”
She had guessed that much, but better he’d be angry with her for a bit than find out the hard way. Time to get this conversation over with for real. “The Loki I remember isn’t the kind to sacrifice himself for the greater good.”
“The Loki I remember did,” Thor said flatly. “Right before Thanos choked the life out of him, waiting until the very last second to also crush his neck just for good measure, and then dropped his lifeless corpse at my feet. Tell me, Sif, what did he stand to gain from that?”
“I am sorry for what happened to him, truly.” Despite everything, Loki hadn’t deserved to die like that, just when he was starting to make something out of himself. If she could’ve prevented it, she would. But whatever he might still have become, that wasn’t the Loki they were dealing with now. This Loki would still be wiping the dust of New York off himself. “But between letting frost giants into Asgard and stealing the tesseract from the vault, how many times did he still stab you in the back?”
“Sif.”
“I’m only trying to say, be prepared for disappointment.”
“I know the person my brother is.” He turned his back and began to leave, even though the third member of their delegation was still inside. But something startled him into stopping. “Oh, hi.”
“Ugh, you.” Sylvie stormed onto the porch, opening and closing her fists. “You’re everywhere these days.”
Sif almost rolled her eyes. “Is there a problem you’d like to address?”
“Several actually. Foremost, you’re still here,” she replied. ‘But whatever. Where is Mobius?”
Thor showed the palms of his hands. “Hi, I don’t know what we did to upset you, but-.”
“You’re still here.” Sylvie shoved Thor aside, even though he hadn’t necessarily been in her way. She proceeded to assault the door. “Hey, you damn bureaucrat, open this fucking door!”
Thor stepped up behind her, lightly put his hands on her shoulders and tried to steer her away from the door. In response, Sylvie turned around, kicked him in the shin.
Sif had about enough of this Loki- however oddly amusing the marked contrast in behavior was- and drew her blade. Thor would not raise a hand in self-defense against this woman, and not only because she was a reflection of the brother he missed so dearly. He was perfectly willing to kick their Loki’s arse.
But as Sif had used to her advantage often enough, Midgardian and Asgardian men alike felt averse to fighting women and even somewhat protective of them in general. Hitting your little brother was a fairer game than hitting your little sister, which was ironic. Sylvie seemed more warrior-like than their Loki had ever been. “Strike him once more and you shall have to deal with me.”
Sylvie rolled her eyes. “I already do, but if you mean I get to fight you too, great.” She threw a punch at Thor.
Thor seemed to have had enough himself. He caught her wrist. She threw her other fist. He caught that one as well. That should’ve been that, but Sylvie smirked. She yanked her arms- and Thor with it- back to her, using the momentum to headbut him in the jaw.
As Thor stumbled, Sylvie turned to Sif and drew her own blade. “Well, then? First move’s yours.”
Sif- again- had not expected that. Their Loki would’ve thrown up his hands, laughed it off, and carried on with his day while plotting petty revenge. Swordfighting a female Loki on the porch of a time wizard’s house while waiting for another time wizard in broad daylight had not been on the planning. Ever. “Do we really have to do this?”
“It was your idea.”
The door swung open. Mobius frowned at the scene and planted his hands on his hips. “Sylvie, put that sword away.”
“She drew hers first.”
“And I would greatly appreciate it if you were the first to put yours away.”
Begrudgingly, Sylvie sheathed her sword, again miraculously deferring to the wizard. She proceeded to pace an erratic circle around herself. Her accompanying gestures were equally erratic. Like she was looking for something to punch.
Thor made another attempt at trying to soothe her, but was met with an accusing finger pointing at his face. “I just wanted to ask if you’re okay.”
“I don’t know you. When will you get that?!” She turned to kick a bench, yet another piece of innocent furniture victim to her tantrums.
Mobius made the same daring move as Thor and tried to put a hand on her shoulder. He succeeded without injury. “Sylvie, breathe. I know, but just breathe.”
Sylvie took a very deep breath. “This needs to stop. They have to go.”
“Look.” Mobius rubbed his forehead. “I just spoke with the wizard living here and he told me the exact same thing you did, but with practically no more clarification. Can you just tell me, in detail, why you’re trying to stop us?”
“Fuck that,” Sylvie declared. “I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to bloody well help you.”
“That’s, uhm, great?” Mobius knitted his brow. “What changed?”
That was an excellent question. This Loki was clearly volatile and fickle, but to swing from one resolute standpoint to the other, that begged an explanation.
She waved her hands in more frantic, nondescript gestures. “I saw him, Mobius. I saw him.”
Despite the strongly voiced confusion and impatience of all involved, Mobius had insisted on bringing this back to the TVA. Some conversations should not be had on a public street, or on the porch of a wizard opposed to your plan right next to a public street. Especially conversations that might end in a physical altercation between gods.
He considered getting Sylvie to sit down, but as soon as he’d stepped out of that front door, he’d seen she was practically vibrating. She might just explode if forced to sit still. “Okay, what happened?”
“I saw him,” she said again. “Just standing there. Had nothing to say. He just tricked me.”
“Okay, first breathe.” His next question seemed stupid even to him. Who else could she mean? Still, he’d rather avoid a misunderstanding like that. “Who did you see?”
Accordingly, Sylvie squinted at him. “Loki, of course. Who else?”
Thor took the daring risk of stepping into her kicking range, which she didn’t even seem to notice. “Where did you see him?”
As soon as she processed who had said that and from what distance, Sylvie paced away. Or more like, ran away.
Mobius gestured at Thor to stay in place and went to steer Sylvie back to the center of the room. It was vaguely amusing that the goddess of war put herself between Sylvie and Thor, while staying clear from the first’s kicking range. Poor girl had it bad, for someone who’d never thought of her that way. Not that he was one to talk himself. “Okay, Sylvie. Let’s start at the beginning. The where is actually a good beginning of an explanation.”
She looked at the ground from the corners of her eyes. “You heard how the analysts theorized that variants of He Who Remains might start trying to take out Loki before the TVA takes him and he becomes….what he is now?”
Yeah, like a week ago. Then again, he wouldn’t know if Sylvie had visited the TVA after he’d left. “It’s a buzzfeed theory thrown together by over-caffeinated transfers from the nightmare department. They should’ve never merged. Even if they manage to isolate the right timeline from the trillion others, it won’t do anything. That’s not how the flow of time works.”
“They clearly don’t know that,” Sylvie said. “I was dealing with one of them when -.”
“I’m sorry, you were doing what?”
Her eyes widened just a little, for a split second. Feigning nonchalance, she continued. “I was dealing with a variant of Kang who was trying just that.”
Mobius gave her a few seconds to expand that answer, which went unused. “Which you just happened to stumble across…when? On your daily afternoon hike? And you said Kang?”
“That’s what they usually call themselves,” she conveniently only answered the past that was to her relative liking.
“I know, but I was just wondering who told you that, since you said you didn’t come around here all that much anymore.”
She crossed her arms. “Sometimes I do. I just don’t make a thing out of it.”
“To steal some data, got it. You know you can just ask for them, right?”
“Can we get back to the story, please?”
“Definitely, after we’ve discussed this.” He looked her in the eye. “The reason we haven’t noticed this before, let me guess, is you.”
“Yeah, I’ve been cleaning up that mess. You’re welcome.”
“Do you realize how dangerous that is?”
“I know the risks, thank you. It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine.”
“I honestly thought your priorities would lie elsewhere right now.”
“He’s not leaving that tree right now,” Mobius said. “But you have a tendency to fall off the radar completely. I don’t want to also have to worrying that your dead body’s lying around somewhere in those trillion timelines.”
“I’m not that easy to kill.” She breathed out. “But that’s the entire point. I was not the only thing holding them back. He is leaving that tree.”
“Are you sure of this?” What would that even mean? That he’d been free to go about all this time? That not coming back was something he chose?
“Completely.”
“Alright, where, when, what branch?”
“616, 2012.” She paused. “New York.”
“Right before his nexus event.” Just to be sure, he asked, “Did you happen to have eyes on the Loki from that timeline?”
“Yes, in that tower talking with that iron-suit guy.” She jabbed her thumb in a random direction. “Our Loki was standing over there.”
Lady Sif cleared her throat. “That may have been an illusion.”
Mobius had been thinking the same thing, except this was Sylvie. She’d see right through an illusion. Also, he’d simultaneously been thinking, what does it matter what she saw as long as it had her helping them?
“I know the difference,” Sylvie said. “Also, why would an illusion need to wear a mask?”
And that was where she lost Mobius too. “So, you didn’t see his face?”
“I recognised his voice and the sense of his magic.”
Alright, that was enough to convince him it was at least one version of Loki. He nodded. “Alright.”
She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “I know what I saw!”
“I believe you.” If for no other reason that it was convenient. “You said you recognised his voice. What did he say?”
“That I had to go.”
The good Lady Sif remarked, “That must be something you have an innate instinct to say.” Going from her file, she was objectively a pretty decent person. But perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to have her involved in this. There was an interesting history there.
“Alright.” Thor put his hand on the lady’s shoulder and stepped in front of her, essentially cutting her off from the conversation. It was not a bad idea, but it did remind Mobius of the very simple instructions Loki had once given to a certain individual to make sure Sif would never willingly say another word to Thor. Fortunately for everyone involved at the time, Haldor had just been too much of a nice guy. “All this aside, you say that he can leave this cosmic tree.”
She seemed too intrigued to be angry at his existence. “I thought he was stuck too, but he clearly isn’t. He can go wherever he wants.”
Mobius bit his lip. “Then why hasn’t he?”
Sylvie tilted her head. “That’s what I intend to find out. Do you want my help or not?”
Mobius wasn’t sure whether things had just become simpler or all the more complicated. While the others began planning their next move, he had retreated to a quiet corner in the remnants of Pompeii to gather his thoughts. “If you can hear me out there, you popsicle bastard, this is the time to let me know.”
There were no bird noises, the sound of fleeing goats, or a madman giddily announcing in Latin that everyone was going to die. The sound of the wind was all that answered.
“Come on, we know you’re out there. Don’t make us come get you.” He paused. “Not even Sylvie is on your side right now and I’ve never seen anyone stop her from doing what she wants for long. You know, this is just going to be one long hassle, so save us all the trouble and come out from wherever you’re hiding.”
Was he really just talking to the wind?
“You know, I really miss you. I never thought life would be this miserable without you. Please, if you can, just come back.” He waited and waited. Every passing second, he felt more like an idiot. Cosmic rejection. “Now I’m almost hoping you can’t hear me, because that was just embarrassing. Do you even want to come back?” He waited another moment. “I guess not.”
Someone cleared their throat.
He jumped to his feet and looked around.
Loki’s brother shrugged apologetically. “Sorry to interrupt. They told me to go get you. It sounds like we’re already on the tree. Right now, I mean. But not once we’re back through the portal.”
Sif said while they waited. “Do you not think she saw it wrong?”
Thor shrugged. “As long as she’s helping.”
And help Sylvie had. Apparently, it was surprisingly obvious, or so had the members of the TVA made it sound. The tree Loki had locked himself in had been made up of timelines. Of course they weren’t going to find it on a timeline. Any given timeline was part of the tree. In simple terms, they’d gotten the size all wrong. O.B. had said something about metaphysics that explained why the imprint of the tree had seemed so small to them.
“I suppose.” She looked upwards. “But it seems to me she’s only aiding us because she’s angry with him, not because she thinks he needs help. In fact, she seems to think he does not want to leave the center of Yggdrasil.”
“I don’t really care.” If Loki-levels of spite was what was going to get this job done, fine by him. Also, Loki wasn’t getting a say in this. He was coming out of that tree….correction, center of that whether he liked it or not. “But it feels odd calling this tree Yggdrasil. We need to find a better name for it.”
Sif looked him into the eye. “I think she meant that this tree truly is the world tree as it was described in the original mythology.”
That was just insane. “Next thing, you’re telling me that Loki created Yggdrasil. You understand that’s what that would mean, right?”
“The myths describe Yggdrasil as the tree that holds and connects all worlds.When our ancestors discovered what we call Yggdrasil, they wrongly assumed that was what the myths meant.” She paused to stare at the ceiling. “ But maybe, where the myths refer to worlds, they might’ve really meant realities. Think about it, this tree literally holds all of existence.”
Thor chuckled. “Come on, it’s just Loki.”
“We used to scoff at what we thought was mere trickery. But at times…” Her gaze shifted from upwards to the screen overwhelmed by branches. “Remind me, what manner of creature was it that Yggdrasil supposedly sprung from?”
“A frost giant,” Thor admitted. “Named Ymir, which is not Loki’s name.”
“In the whole of it, that’s a minor detail.” She tapped her fingers on the armrest. Her eyes were guarded when they focussed back on him. “Thor, be honest. What do you think his true motives are?”
Yeah well, who knows? Maybe she was right. Maybe Mobius was right. Probably, the truth was somewhere in between. Or given that it was Loki, something outside of anyone’s expectations He wanted to assume the best, but yes, he had also armed himself against the possibility of what Sif had so handily summarized as disappointment. But that did not mean he wanted to hear it over and over again. “It does not matter as long as we haven’t retrieved him yet. For that matter, what’s taking so long?”
“They are sorting out reality. I’d wager that it will take a while,” Sif said. “You’re the one who decided to sit it out in realtime.”
He got up, frustrated there was nothing to do but sit around and wait while other people did the work. He’d already been told scouring the TVA was useless. The TVA wasn’t inside the tree, but the tree also wasn’t inside the TVA. He grabbed a tempad off a desk. The one named Victor had been kind enough to explain its functions. “I’m going to stop by home.”