The Witch
“Let’s explore the Town Square!” said Love, as she tugged the arms of both Loki and Sylvie.
“Can’t we just stay at home?” Loki grinned cheekily at Sylvie, whose eyes widened. She knew exactly what he was referring to. She stared at Love who was fiddling with her giraffe costume, distracted and smiling carelessly.
“I’d much rather do- OW!” Loki cried as she quickly stomped on his foot. Sylvie rolled her eyes as he gave her a fake hurt look.
“Not the time, Loki.”
Soon, Love interjected the pair’s partly amused and partly annoyed staring contest. “Uncle Loki, it’s Halloween! We mustn’t stay at home! Everyone is outside celebrating festivities and trying to get a good scare!”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” Sylvie and Loki both said at once, arms mirrored and both crossed. She gave him a look and he winked at her with a wide smile.
“Halloween is a peculiar event.” Love shot him an offended look (which was extremely concerning, knowing that the child could shoot lasers out of her eyes), but he continued anyway.
“Besides, I really don’t understand why Midgardians so relentlessly promote a holiday dedicated to carving completely inaccurate faces out of pumpkins and letting potentially psychotic children straight into their homes, while also wasting money on giving out candy.” Loki sighed, staring down at his horse costume looking both bored and forlorn.
Sylvie rolled her eyes at his pompous and flamboyant dramatics.
Growing up in apocalypses, she’d seen a tiny glimpse into the unique pastimes of people all over the world. Of course, that was before everything and everyone were all obliterated to bits, causing total death and destruction.
She distinctly remembered one of the first apocalypses she’d gone to after escaping the TVA.
It was a hurricane in the year 2098, that destroyed an entire town in North America. The typhoon was so powerful that even the people’s extremely advanced technology at the time wasn’t enough to prevent destruction.
Of course, a young Sylvie was extremely frightened. It was around the end of October, and a young couple, unaware of their terrible fate, approached her and gave her candy.
Back then, she was wildly confused by the act, but they were kind and welcoming. They must’ve thought she was a foreigner because of her accent and bewilderedness. The two women ended up explaining Halloween and everything about it to Sylvie. Even under intense stress and fear from her previous encounter with the TVA not that long ago, she couldn’t help but laugh.
One of the very first times she felt less lonely, or, to be more accurately described, her solitude felt less suffocating.
The experience made her feel less alone.
That’s enough reminiscing for today, she thought.
Sylvie shook off that nostalgia and sentiment to give her costume a proper inspection. It was quite laughable, really— a flimsy, furry unicorn costume that had rainbows all over. Thor’s mighty pick. Thankfully, he went off to help some of the townspeople with their Trick or Treating activities and probably a lot more. It certainly helped to lessen the teasing and giggling.
Loki flashed one of his infamous pouts and they followed Love as she held both their hands and sped excitedly out of Thor’s house.
When they stepped out, it looked like Satan had taken a stab at their street. Chaos unleashed.
Quite impressive too, actually.
“Huh.” Loki muttered beside her.
“What the hell?”
The entire street was a wreck. Toilet paper rolls hung on trees, alternating with the melted candied apples. Majority of the jack-o'-lanterns across the street were crushed and squished, orange goop scattered on the ground. One of the pumpkins was even carved to look like it was vomiting. Fake(?) blood was doused on multiple houses, mailboxes, and the questionable crimson substance was almost everywhere they looked. Townspeople stood there, looking around wildly at the sight.
“Sylvie!”
A woman's voice called at her. She recognized it.
“Valkyrie?”
Her Royal Highness was looking extremely frustrated, pacing back and forth a few feet away. She’d gotten used to calling her by her name, instead of King after they’d arrived on New Asgard and had become well acquainted. You could call them drinking buddies, and maybe even friends.
Valkyrie stopped in her tracks, and Sylvie noticed that she was stepping in a puddle of fake blood. Val took a withering look at her and Loki, ignoring Love for the time being.
“Did you two do this?” A tinge of skepticism was present in her voice as she pointed at the pair.
“Well of course not!” Loki sighed.
A loud sigh of relief escaped Valkyrie’s lips.
Loki’s eyes widened. “Unless...”
“What?”
“Someone is trying to snatch my Trickster title!”
“Loki…” Sylvie sighed.
“Lackey, what are you talking about?” Val rolled her eyes.
“It's extremely possible. Someone extremely adept at pulling parlor tricks has decided to cause some mischief during Halloween. They might even attempt to surpass my expertise!”
Love shifted in her place as Loki continued, only to be interrupted by a lone roll of toilet paper falling on his face.
“PFFT!” He gasped as Love stared at the roll in annoyance, and it was soon exploded to bits by her laser eyes.
Loki looked at her in awe and slight fear.
“If I might continue, Love has told us that this holiday as we call it, is full of scares. So maybe our suspect is trying to sow fear and havoc across New Asgard,” he finished.
“Thankfully, this is the only street that's trashed. But that doesn't mean the trickster is planning more.” Val hummed. More fake blood splattered out of nowhere, almost shooting Love, Sylvie and Loki.
He quickly conjured a wooden shield to cover them both. Sylvie gave him a nod of thanks, and the four of them sighed in frustration.
Sylvie finally spoke. “What can we do to help?”
“Just try not to cause any more trouble. I’ll keep this street closed for now. We don't want people slipping on fake blood and pumpkin innards.” Val said.
The three of them nodded.
“Can we still visit the Town Square?” Love asked once more.
Sylvie and Loki gave Val a knowing look.
“Why, of course Love! Lots of people from around the world came here to show off their talents. I recommend the witch,” she winked.
Love’s eyes widened as she squealed in joyous excitement. “Uncle Loki, Auntie Sylvie, let's go! We have no time to waste!”
She pulled the pair's arms as the three waved goodbye to a smiling Val, still standing there.
They made their way past the obliterated pumpkins, puddles of blood, and the rolling TP’s. The mess soon cleared. Love, Loki and Sylvie set foot into the Town Square.
Nighttime was mysterious. Loud, uninterpretable music blasted in every corner.
Dark shades of purple, bright tones of orange, and monstrous patterns decorated the many stalls across the place. Cardboard cutouts of ghosts, werewolves and witches were in every area.
Sylvie and Loki nodded. This looked like a fun celebration.
Love, on the other hand, didn't look all that impressed.
“Where's the witchcraft? The wizardry? I thought there was going to be real magic this time,” she looked down sadly.
“It's alright, Love!” Loki tried to cheer her up, and he conjured her a miniature Mjolnir. “Here you go,” he kindly offered.
She looked at it for a while and only sighed. Loki and Sylvie stared at each other in confusion.
Suddenly, Sylvie had an idea.
“Love, darling, remember what King Val told us? About the witch?”
Love’s eyes lit up. “Yes, I do!”
“How about we find this witch and see if she's really all that good, hm?” Sylvie grinned as she took her hand.
Loki gave her an impressed nod of approval as they wandered across the square.
There were lots of people who had set up a bunch of activities. One man could shapeshift into anything by request. Another person (with the help of the obvious blanket and trapdoor) could disappear.
Finally, they arrived at a mildly compelling stall that said Feel Your Fears.
A middle-aged looking woman sat behind the large sign. She had dark hair with deep violet highlights, amethyst glowing eyes, and your stereotypical witch hat. She also wore a dark, long coat.
“Was this the woman Val was speaking of?” Loki whispered.
“Let's find out!!” Love said excitedly.
They approached the witch. “Hello,” she simply said.
“I go by Raven. Would you like to experience the scare of your life?”
Sylvie was obviously extremely skeptical. She’d seen lots of gruesome things and she was almost sure this would be harmless. She eyes Loki but he gestured to Love, who was already entranced with this woman’s offer.
It's just a bunch of silly parlor tricks anyway. I'm not worried.
“Uncle Loki, Auntie Sylvie… please?” Love pleaded with her cutest pity face. Sylvie gave Loki a look.
If we don't give Love what she wants, there's a large chance that she'll obliterate us to bits.
Loki, noticing Sylvie's gaze, sighed, then turned his attention to the woman and flashed his smile, before asking, “Do you take gold as payment? Perhaps a rare dagger?”
“US Dollars only, I’m afraid.” Raven grinned. Sylvie shook her head in confusion. This was Norway!
He conjured a bundle of money behind his back while pretending to fiddle with his pockets. He smiled and gave the money to the woman.
“Before we continue, I need a verbal agreement that you’re prepared for anything I throw at you and that I won't face legal consequences if you become mentally and/or physically unstable. I don't do contracts,” she spoke firmly. Sylvie quietly scoffed.
“We accept.”
The witch nodded and asked them to turn around. Sylvie and Loki rolled their eyes, but Love enthusiastically obliged.
“You can face me now.”
They turned around, and the three of them looked at the stall. There was no one there.
Sylvie sighed. In 3… 2… 1…
Right on cue, the woman jumped out, and screamed, fake blood all over her body, wearing a rotting-zombie mask.
“AAAAAAAAH!!!”
When she finally stopped, Love sighed, frustrated.
“Okay… now wait for this!” Raven said quickly as she picked up the three’s disdain.
“No. That's quite enough.” Loki stopped her.
“But-”
“We’ve had enough of your parlor tricks, and I’d like my money back.” Loki huffed.
“No, wait!” Raven stopped them from walking away. Love’s eyebrows were scrunched and Sylvie could tell she was getting extremely impatient.
“Please! You guys are my only customers for the night. Give me a chance. I’ll bring out the big guns. I promise your money will be very well spent.”
Her last statement invoked some worry in Sylvie, yet she was curious to see how far this witch could take it. She looked at Love, and she nodded expectantly.
Beatrix took some weird looking carved stones in her hands from under the stall.
“Are those runes?” Loki eyed the pieces she held. With a glimmer in her eyes, the witch only stared at him.
Suddenly, her violet eyes glowed brightly, and purple mist surrounded the three of them.
“Loki? LOKI! LOVE?!” Sylvie shouted, but the fog was enveloping them all…
Until everything went dark.
Sylvie gasped.
Lying down, she felt suffocated. It was like she’d just woken up from a dream, and yet she was still in one piece.
She stood up, and every step she took created an echo, spiraling into infinity. Everywhere around her, it was a dark, endless void, extending into oblivion. It was painfully quiet, so silent, that she could hear her labored breaths.
“Sylvie?”
That voice. She knew that voice.
“Loki!” She shouted, but there was no response.
A faint glimmer of green sparked to her right. Sylvie ran towards it, and a reflection, a mere mirage of Loki was before her.
He wasn't in his costume. At that moment, Sylvie herself wasn't even in her Halloween outfit.
Tears were streaming down his face, and he was banging on the illusion like it was a glass door. His shirt was ripped and one of his arms had a nasty gash. She recognized it.
His obsidian hair was wild and tangled, and he was breathing heavily. Loki wore a faded, white suit. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his coat was gone. She remembered that.
Sylvie looked down at herself, and she was wearing her long discarded, long gone armor. The armor she wore when she battled wars of personal torture in a million apocalypses, enduring so much suffering time and time again.
And yet, none of those ordeals even compared to what she was reliving right now.
The Citadel.
“Loki!!” She shouted as she pounded on his reflection. Hit after hit, it was like she was aiming at nothing. He was unreachable.
Then as quick as he came, he was pulled across the dark void, seized inside an orange timedoor. Sylvie’s timedoor. One she had cast in vain, something that felt eons ago.
But instead of him being gone for months, being gone for what felt like eternities, no.
This was much worse.
Another timedoor opened behind her, and she heard something heavy fall to the floor.
Her heart almost stopped.
“Loki… no. No no no no no no no!” She cried, running towards his lifeless body.
His eyes were open and blank. His face, expressionless. She cradled his body, which was cold.
She wept.
And he was gone.
The realization hit her like a thousand daggers, taking a stab at one of her most vulnerable memories, piercing her soul like no other.
Her greatest fear (that she never really believed she had), wasn't the trauma from all the death and destruction she had once witnessed, no.
This fear was much more Loki-like.
It was being alone.
“Sylvie.” Loki spoke softly.
She stumbled, grabbing a nearby table to center herself.
They were back in the Town Square, but the witch was gone. Relief hung in the air, but there was still something that bothered her.
That vision felt so real… so frightening. It felt less like a conjuration or a hallucination, and more like a tape being played in one of the TVA’s time-theaters. Sylvie was never able to enchant herself, but she wondered if this was what it felt like.
And the worst part?
The fact that some of the vision had happened once before.
“Loki…” Sylvie could only mutter. She felt so happy, so comforted by his voice- that same, sweet, kind voice he used when he told her that he wanted her to be okay.
Right now, she wasn't okay, and they both knew it.
His hands were shaking, and he looked scared.
Broken, even.
Sylvie's eyes stung and her face felt wet from tears.
“Oh no. Where's Love?” An alarming amount of concern was present in Sylvie's voice. As if on command, Loki ran with her, as they sprint around the Town Square.
She held his hand tight, not wanting to let go. She felt cold and feverish from that dream. It was a horrible feeling, and she was terrified to find out about Loki's and Love’s.
“We never should've gone to that damn witch.” Sylvie sighed in frustration as they found Love, hugging her legs and huddled next to a tree.
She was sobbing as Sylvie and Loki sat to her left and right.
“Are you alright, Love?” Sylvie had to ask the obvious.
“I… I saw my father. And then he was gone. And I was alone.” She sniffled.
Yet she continued.
“I’m okay, though. It already happened once, and it can't hurt me anymore. That witch did good.” She smiled.
Sylvie knew that smile. It was once hers. A mask she wore when she was at her lowest, an illusion she cast when she wanted to hide her sorrow.
“Can I look at the shapeshifter stall nearby? I’ll be back soon, I promise.” Love said a while after, probably noticing Sylvie and Loki’s intense gaze upon each other.
Sylvie and Loki nodded as she sniffled and ran off into… somewhere.
Thor told Loki and Sylvie a little bit about Love’s upbringing, and how similar it was to her own. She lost her father and her entire life was taken from her. Her only family, a man named Gorr, soon gone. He saved Love, and she missed him dearly.
Once Loki and Sylvie were both alone, he gripped her hand once again.
She looked at him, in slight guilt and fear. They’d already talked about what happened in the Citadel and had resolved the conflict. Yet, the fear of it happening again never really faded away. It was a shadow that haunted them, a fear locked away, only now revisited.
All of a sudden, like a cork about to pop, Sylvie and Loki burst into tears. It was like they knew exactly what the other had a vision of. It was a mutual understanding. One of soulmates. A connection that ran so deep, something imperceptible to most.
They both cried, and she wrapped her arms around him. “It was horrible, horrible.” Sylvie said through tears.
Loki continued her thought. “I thought I lost you again,” he held her closer, tighter, as if afraid she was going to disappear if he didn't.
They stayed like that for a while. Sobbing in each other's arms. Not many words were spoken. There was no need for it.
Until they pulled away, and Loki finally spoke.
“Remember when we were stuck in the TVA? Right before we were presented to the Time-Keepers and they turned out to be fake?” He laughed in irony.
Sylvie nodded.
“Mobius locked me into a time-loop. One on Asgard, with Sif. After repeatedly assaulting my… godhood, she delivered an even more painful strike, saying that I am alone, and that I always will be.”
He sighed, and couldn't help but smile. Sylvie’s face twisted into one of pity.
“I guess we're both afraid of being alone, then. Looks like Love is too.” Sylvie chuckled darkly as she pulled her hand away from Loki.
It was an odd habit, but she couldn't help it. It was stupid. This was stupid.
She was in a goddamn unicorn costume, crying about a vision some witch cast. Raven probably even used some type of drug mist and disguised it as real dark magic.
The witch wasn't even there anymore. Although, Sylvie did hear someone cackle a few minutes ago. Maybe she’d already run away. Wise move.
And yet… some part of her believed the vision was real. She knew that fear… it was true.
Loki looked at her, but he didn't try to comfort or talk to her. He just stared blankly into oblivion, reflecting on his own, and looked at her like she was out of his reach.
A shy voice interrupted their collective silence.
“But… we aren't alone, Aunt Sylvie. Uncle Loki.”
And there was Love. She nodded at both of them, and they looked at her, fidgeting nervously with her giraffe costume once again. She’d been listening to their conversation or lack thereof all along.
Sylvie and Loki only looked at her, sniffling.
“Just like Uncle Thor used to tell me when I had those nightmares… We can't get rid of our fears. The only thing we can do is learn to accept and live with them,” she smiled. “You're not alone anymore. You have me! And Uncle Thor! And Val! Korg! Miek! New Asgard…” Love continued listing people and places, and Loki couldn't help but laugh.
“You're a wise child, dearest Love.” Loki beamed.
“Thank you,” she grinned. “This time, I actually want to visit the shapeshifter.” Her voice hardened.
“Dearest Love, I can shapeshift into anything you’d like.” Loki winked.
“Even into a giraffe?” Love's eyes widened as she pointed at her giraffe costume..
“Yes! Even into a giraffe.” He smiled.
“Let's go back then!” She giggled and ran back towards the messy street they call home.
They couldn't keep being afraid. Loki and Sylvie had to take the jump.
After all, they weren't alone.
Sylvie smiled softly at the realization, and took Loki’s hand.
“That was certainly an experience,” she scoffed. Love, Loki and Sylvie’s first Halloween together was definitely a unique one. “What can we do next?”
