Chapter 10
"If magic was used to bring you here," said Frigga as she dropped the large, heavy book upon the table with a resounding thud. "—magic must be the way to send you back."
While Sigyn knew perfectly well magic had had nothing to do with her teleportation into Asgard —or perhaps it had, she knew little to nothing about how the TVA harnessed such control over space and time—, she could not even fathom how to introduce the concept of a TemPad to someone who remained ignorant to the existence of the Agency. Besides, other than trust on the most powerful witch she had ever heard of, there was not much else she could do in order to find a way back where she had come from.
The Queen flicked through the pages, her fingertip swiftly running down each in search for a useful spell. Meanwhile, Sigyn paced back and forth the length of the room, feeling utterly and vexingly useless despite how much she appreciated Frigga's efforts in finding a solution to a predicament she had brought upon herself and now was thoroughly incapable of solving.
"Do not worry, dear," the woman reassured her. "I've taught that boy everything he knows. Any magic he can do, I can do better."
Sigyn glanced her way. On the one hand, she knew she hadn't been particularly concealing of the link between herself and the Prince of Asgard, yet the easiness with which the Queen had connected the dots with the little information the younger woman had trusted her with was still remarkable. Raising her eyes from her book momentarily to look at her, Frigga offered a smile.
"I'm not just a witch, girl, I was raised by witches. There's more to me than just a few tricks— and then, there's that, of course." She pointed to Sigyn's hand, particularly to the ring she was currently nervously fidgeting with between the tips of her index finger and thumb.
So used was her to being its owner and wearer that Sigyn had for a moment completely forgotten that band was exactly the same as the one wrapped around the Queen in front of her's finger. Still bewildered, caught between a state of familiarity and disquiet, the younger woman could only exhale a weak chuckle in response.
At that moment, a portal of orange materialized in the middle of the room and before someone had even crossed it, Frigga had magically summoned her two daggers, readying herself to confront the unannounced intruder.
"Your Majesty!"
Sylvie in turn, even though she had no intention of harming the Queen without any prompting, held her baton up with its sharpest end towards Frigga and as they froze in their offensive poses, waiting for the other to give them a reason to react accordingly, the Goddess of Mischief turned her head to look to Sigyn.
"Well, hello, darling."
"It's alright, your Majesty, she's a friend."
Eyes glued to one another out of sheer precaution, the two women slowly lowered the weapons and as if to ensure no confrontation would break out, Sigyn stepped between the two of them, facing Sylvie.
"How did you find me?"
"I figured the best place to hide you from the TVA would be in an alternate branch that's already been created, or else they would have been able to track you the moment you created one," answered the other as she scrolled down Renslayer's TemPad. "And wouldn't you know, the first thing I see when I looked through them…" She held up the device in order to show 'Asgard, 2004' highlighted on the screen. "Got to give him credit, it was quite clever. I mean, he's an idiot, but still…"
"Where is he, where's Loki?"
"That's what you and I are going to find out." Sylvie strapped her TemPad back on her belt and craned her neck to look over Sigyn's shoulder, offering Frigga a mischievous wave and a smile. "Hi, I'll just take this one off your hands, shall I?"
She tried taking Sigyn by the wrist but she resisted, causing Frigga to react protectively by placing a shielding arm over her would-be daughter-in-law, her other hand holding a dagger up to the Variant once again.
"I haven't exactly got all the time in the world to explain," insisted Sylvie impatiently. "They are coming for us— So how about…" She held both hands up in the air so as not to take either women by surprise and have her gesture be mistaken for an attack. She then faintly wiggled her fingers until a green glow formed around them. "You show me everything you know, I'll show you what I know and we can be on our way."
After exchanging a reassuring look with the Queen to let her know it was safe to step aside, Sigyn nodded and stood closer to the Variant, who in turn pressed her fingertips to her temples. A few seconds of synapsis later, during which memories echoed and rushed across the magical bond between their consciousnesses, they separated from each other with a gasp. Even though Sylvie managed to conceal it a lot better than Sigyn did, they were both visibly shaken, having most likely seen and heard more than they had expected. They looked at each other in the eye and Sigyn nodded yes to a question the other woman hadn't even posed.
Turning to face Frigga, for she still felt she owed her an explanation at least, Sigyn shook her head, at a loss as to where to begin.
"Go, child," Frigga relieved her with a gentle smile. "I've lived through far more unusual events in my time and I will probably see more of them before my time is over."
Had it not been for the fact that they had only been reacquainted for such short a period of time, Sigyn would have been tempted to give the only mother she had ever known one last hug before she parted.
"Thank you." She turned to look to Sylvie. "If you're lying about this, I'll kill you."
"Oh, I believe you," answered the fugitive with a half-smile and after having performed a twist on the baton that exposed it's orange end, she pressed it to Sigyn's abdomen first and her own second, the two of them fading away on sight.
"You know, when you showed me what Renslayer told you about the Void, you skipped over this little detail!" yelled Sigyn as the two of them ran from the roaring storm with a mind of its own that was menacingly chasing after them, consuming everything in its path.
"Which obviously means she never mentioned it!" Sylvie yelled back, running alongside of her until they both heard a horn in the distance and eventually visualized the car it had come from in the horizon.
"Loving this look on ya', by the way," Mobius playfully complimented Sigyn on her Asgardian outfit, watching her from the rearview mirror.
"I liked it better when I thought you were dead," she replied.
"Oh, come on… Hey, don't get me wrong, I know it seems like I'm overly fond of the two WonderTwins over here, but you're still my number one Variant."
Sigyn attempted to fight a smile and failed. Glancing at her reaction in the mirror, Mobius smiled smugly to himself.
Within that Void, evidently ruled the same logics as back at the TVA, in the sense that the passing of time followed guidelines she ignored, making it impossible for her to measure how long they had been driving before deciding what needed to be done was go back where they had come from, nor could she have been able to tell how long it had taken them to find that isolated, decrepit shed overlooking the valley where the amorphous cloudy monster resided.
As she climbed out of the vehicle, she felt as if her heart had tripled in size within her chest at the sight of the God of Mischief trotting down the hill to meet them, which should have caused her happiness, or at least relief. However, at the moment, all it did was tie a knot at the pit of her stomach.
"Sigyn— How… What are you doing here?"
"Really?" she huffed. "That's all you've got?"
"Wh— No! I don't… I'm so glad you're okay, I am, I just thought… Why are you here?"
"I was beginning to wonder that myself."
She turned her head to Sylvie and Loki did the same. The Variant shrugged her shoulders.
"What? I didn't know what we'd find down here, I thought we could do with some backup."
"Mobius!" exclaimed a pleasantly surprised Loki as the former analyst emerged from the car as well.
At the same time, the three other discarded Variants emerged from the shed on top of the hill, and after they had joined them, swift introductions were made. Sigyn greeted them each with a very faint bob of the head, forcing a small smile with her arms tightly crossed over her chest. By the time it was her turn to be introduced, Loki hesitated and she raised an expectant eyebrow.
"Lady Sigyn Iwaldidottir," interrupted Classic Loki, evidently familiar with her— or a version of her at least.
"Well, we've only ever been on a first-name basis, actually," explained the Prince as he looked at Sigyn apologetically for being unable to confirm her full name.
"Must be her, she seems less than happy to see you," argued his older self.
Loki looked her way again, this time in search for evidence that confirmed the attitude he must have overlooked within the rush and excitement of being reunited with his three acquaintances from the TVA. Sigyn lowered her eyes. Fortunately, the conversation went on in spite of that short, silent, awkward interaction.
"So you're all after the giant cloud monster, too, then?"
Looking around that well-denominated void, rubbing her own arms in an attempt to shield herself from the constant, chilled breeze, having nothing to contribute to the suicidal idea of attacking the very thing they had barely escaped from in the first place, Sigyn once again found herself wondering why she had agreed to join Sylvie on that mission in the first place.
She felt no different than she had back in Asgard, wandering aimlessly around her own realm in an attempt to do something with herself, all the while hearing the gossipy whispers that arose behind her back as she walked by. Poor Lady Sigyn, they would all say, linked to her only family out of habit alone for not only had she married into it in the first place, her spouse had spent the last few years oscillating between death and disfavor.
Grieving tears were still fresh on her face by the time the TVA had arrested her after he had undoubtedly died and she foolishly believed she had found a purpose, something to do that was just her own, a reason to get up in the morning— or whatever qualified as the beginning of the day back at the Agency. And as it turned out, she had unknowingly been waiting to be dragged back into the same old habits, her relevance once again blinking, activating only for as long as she could be useful right before it shut off again, and so forth and so forth.
She had been too proud or too naive to see it but now she did; for years now, she had existed only and exclusively in terms of Loki. Of course the Variant before her was only partly to blame for her discontent —he had made a few decisions of his own she was upset about—; however, at that moment, if she was so cursed as to be surrounded by not one but a whole group of Lokis, she wanted to at least be granted the possibility to avoid the one that reminded her the most to the one she'd known. Therefore, when the God of Mischief approached her with a noticeable intention to talk, she lowered her head to pretend she hadn't seen it, walking past him towards the shed instead.
It had taken her several attempts to earn the beast's trust, the same number of times Mobius had warned her she would lose a hand if she kept it up.
"Stop it!" she reprimanded the alligator after it had, for the fourth time hissed at her menacingly while dodging her touch. "Look, see?"
She turned her hand around, slowly reaching towards its snout with the back of her fingers in hopes that the reptile would at last understand she meant no harm; even though it flinched at first contact, eventually it welcomed the gentle caresses on its muzzle.
"Well, I'll be," commented Mobius as he leaned forward with a smile, watching the alligator not only allow itself to be touched but even leaning into it, closing its eyes. "That settles it. He's a Loki."
Sigyn forced herself to smile because she knew he had genuinely meant it as a compliment.
"Who's to say a reptilian Wife of Mischief hasn't landed on these moors before?" added Classic Loki, most likely meaning nothing of it and yet making Sigyn shudder with discomfort.
"I need some air."
Meanwhile, out in the cold, God and Goddess of Mischief were seated side by side, tiptoeing their way towards a conversation that at least one of them (if not both) was eager to have. Slowly but surely, after having hinted around the topic for a bit, they eventually came to discuss their nexus event, more specifically what Mobius had suggested might have been the cause for it.
"I don't have friends," Sylvie confessed at one point in an attempt to explain herself. "I don't have... anyone."
"Well... there are more important things, right?" commented Loki with a faint smile.
"I know there are for me." She turned her head to stare ahead, crossing her arms over her knees. "But what about you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The Variant hesitated for a moment. She wondered if any of that was any of her business, if any good would come out of intervening in the first place. Nevertheless, she remembered, seeing as she had already meddled by sharing the information she was currently withholding with her fellow prisoner back in front of the golden elevators, she figured she might as well finish what she had started. She cleared her throat and turned slightly to face her male counterpart.
"Back in Lamentis, when I tried to grab ahold of your mind…"
"Right, you couldn't."
"Right. But I could see… something."
Loki paused and he himself turned to face her more properly as well, inviting her to go on.
"I don't know how it's possible, I suppose it'd have to depend on how or at which point a timeline is reset but… I'm fairly certain that there are memories of another timeline locked in there somewhere." She pointed to his head.
Seeing as they had previously been discussing a potentially peculiar connection, followed by her questioning whether or not there might have been something more important to him than having someone, before they had somehow landed into that revelation, there was but one logical assumption Loki could infer.
"Of Sigyn's timeline?"
Sylvie pursed her lips and nodded her head. The Prince huffed a faint chuckle of surprise, having pinpointed at last the source of that previously inexplicable yet pulling connection, that factor that had trapped the thought of Sigyn in his mind from the moment he had met her and had have any other thought of his since then coexist with the thought of her.
"I'd like to say that's impossible but in a strange way it actually makes sense… So you reckon I could unlock them?"
"Maybe."
"You've done it before with TVA Agents, you think you could do the same with me?"
"I've tried, remember? I can't."
"Right. Right, yeah…"
They both stared ahead in silence, each with their own train of thought coursing through their minds but this time sharing none of it with each other. Another chance for meddling presented itself, Sylvie realized as she looked back on recent events. Once again, she wondered whether or not she should share it, and once again she figured she might as well would.
"I could always show you her memories," she ventured with feigned innocence.
"Wh— You spied into her memories?"
"No! She let me."
"She let you."
"Yes! She needed to know everything I'd learned about this place. And I needed to make sure she could be trusted."
"We already knew she could be trusted."
"No, you did." Sylvie shrugged. "For all I knew, the TVA could have messed with her memories and leave her oblivious. Just like they did with Mobius."
Loki exhaled a resigned sigh and nodded his head, agreeing that had been a sensible tactic.
"So?"
"So, what?"
"D'you want to see her memories?" offered Sylvie again, this time holding out her hand which was glimmering green.
The God of Mischief glanced between her hand and her face a few times before raising his own hand, which hesitatingly hovered over his counterpart's until he had managed to power through temptation.
"No," he decided, drawing his hand back as he shook his head. "I mean, I do want to, but I…" He cleared his throat. "I shouldn't."
"Good," Sylvie replied with a smile.
Loki glanced at her and scoffed amusedly, having now realized she had been bluffing all along.
"Can't believe I fell for that."
"Can't believe you did, honestly…"
"You haven't even seen her memories, have you?"
"Oh, no, I did," she confirmed, nodding her head. "I just wasn't going to show you."
They exchanged faint laughs. Suddenly, they heard the door to the shed open behind them and when Loki glanced over his shoulder, he saw Sigyn walking downhill. Calling it her cue, Sylvie got on her feet with a sigh.
"I think I'll head inside. It's freezing out here, anyway."
"Here."
The trickster stood up as well, removing from around his shoulders the emerald cloth he had concocted, draping it over her shoulders instead. She welcomed it with a small smile.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
As she walked up to the shed, she turned to him with furrowed eyebrows.
"It's not very snuggly," she playfully complained. "Is it a tablecloth?"
"Wh—No, it's a blanket!"
"Meh," she replied with an unimpressed shrug, making Loki chuckle to himself once again as he shook his head in disbelief.