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“Alright we really need to stop whatever is happening with you because it’s getting harder to watch,” Mobius said while he and Loki walked into the elevator.
“What? I thought you said it didn’t look that bad?”
“I lied. It’s awful. It’s like you're dying and being born at the same time over and over again.”
Loki cringed at Mobius’ words. That description wasn’t entirely inaccurate to how he felt with each reality shift. It certainly wasn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world. It also wasn’t the worst pain he’s felt either though. The year he spent with Thanos and his Black Order had truly topped his list of painful moments. He’s hoping this reality shifting or whatever it was, wouldn’t ever come close to feeling like that pain.
“Do you think the TVA workers at R&A will actually be able to solve my current predicament?”
Ding. Went the elevator. Mobius gave Loki a light pat on the shoulder and started to walk out of the elevator. “I’m hoping so. We got some bright minds down here. They should be able to at least tell us what is going with you, and hopefully offer some sort of solution. Everything will work out fine.”
Somehow I doubt that. Loki thought as he followed Mobius down the hall.
___________
“Based on what you did just now, you appear to be Timeslipping,” O.B said.
“Timeslipping?” Loki asked, confused and out of breath. This reality…timeslipping was exhausting him more and more with each slip.
“You're slipping through time. Being pulled throughout the past and present uncontrollably. If this keeps happening uncontrollably there's a chance your atoms could fully disassemble all together.”
Well that didn’t sound great. Now Loki was feeling extremely anxious for his well being. Never once in his centuries of living, and fighting countless battles did he ever once think he could be killed due to body being destroyed by his own molecules. Well, except for some loose threats he received from The Other during his time in the Sanctuary, but at the time he never took those threats fully seriously. Gods weren’t supposed to be ripped apart bit by bit, were they?
“My atoms could be ripped apart?” Loki’s voice was laced with concern. He fought the urge to look down at his arms, to check to see if his atoms were still there.
“Yes. It would be a very painful experience,” O.B said solemnly.
“Well there’s gotta be something we can do. We can’t have his atoms being ripped apart all over the TVA. You’re pretty smart O.B, you gotta have something,” Mobius said.
“There is one way to solve this problem. We need a Temporal Aura Extractor. We can use that to pull Loki out of the time stream, and fully into our current time. No more timeslipping.”
“And his atoms...?” Mobius started
“They would be fully reconnected again. No risk of him being destroyed from the inside out,” O.B said with a smile.
There’s a solution. Not an easy one, but Loki won’t complain. They just need to get a Temporal Aura Extractor, or figure out how to make one. Hopefully quickly. The idea of being ripped apart from the inside out made him nauseous.
“Alright. How do we get this Temporal Aura Extractor? The quicker the better,” Loki asked quickly. He can’t afford to be slow with this process. He needs to find Sylvie and figure out how to stop He Who Remains from destroying everything.
“You are just in luck! I seem to have one almost complete right here.” O.B reached under his desk and grabbed the device. “I never fully understood why I had this here. It's been here for years, but I’m glad I have it right now!”
“Very thankful that you do indeed,” Mobius said with a light chuckle. “How close is it to being fully done?”
“Pretty close I would say. Just need to tighten these bolts right here, and finish wiring the extractor and we should be all good to go.”
Loki let out a sigh of relief. Soon this agony would be over and he could get back on track with finding Sylvie. He clapped his hands together.
“Perfect. Well lets get to tightening those bolts, and wiring those-AUGH!” Loki’s body suddenly started to contort, another timeslip. Though this one felt bigger and far more painful than his previous timeslips. Like he was being ripped to shreds.
“Loki!” Mobius yelled.
In the blink of an eye Loki disappeared.
___________
“AUGH!” Loki yelled. He finally stopped contorting. He quickly patted down his arms. Whew. His atoms still seem to fully be there.
That's a relief. He thought. But he quickly realized something wasn’t right. He looked back down at his arms. He wasn’t wearing the same outfit anymore. Gone was his white dress shirt. In its place were dark purple and green leather sleeves. He looked down at the rest himself. His brown pants were replaced with a pair of black leather pants, and he was wearing much nicer boots. Almost exactly like the ones he would wear on Asgard. He quickly noticed the weight of the cape on his back as well. He pulled at the fabric on his back to see that it was a dark green cape.
“What the Hel?” He said aloud to himself. None of the other timeslips had altered his clothes. He lifted his head up and looked around the room he was standing in. It certainly looked nothing like the R&A room.
There were two beds across each other within the room he was standing in. One was neatly made, while the other had its blankets falling off the side. On the side wall next to what appeared to be a small bathroom there was a small vanity filled with what appeared to be bottles of alcohol, and a pair of small eyepatches laid atop its counter. In front of Loki was a giant window that looked out to the deep inky blackness of outer space.
Was he even inside the TVA anymore?
No. He couldn't be. There was movement under him. Like he was on a ship of some sort. It felt like an extremely slower version of the Asgardian skiffs that he would race Thor on when they were children. The TVA may be at the end of time and space, but there was never movement from the building. Where the Hel was he?
He quickly walked over to the vanity and took a look in the mirror at himself. He looked the same, mostly. Apart from his obvious change in clothing attire, his hair was longer, it was down to his shoulders. But his face was the exact same. If anything his face looked tired, but that could be chalked up to his atoms constantly being pulled apart and reassembled uncontrollably.
Loki had no idea what to do. He can’t control when he timeslips. He doesn’t even know if it is possible to learn. He just kept staring at himself in the mirror. It was certainly his reflection, but it didn’t feel like him. Like he was missing a part of himself, but he wasn’t sure what exactly was missing.
He wasn’t sure how long he was staring in confusion at his reflection. But a loud yell from the doorway to the room snapped him out of the confused daze he was in.
“Lackey! Could you stop staring at your reflection for five minutes and get your ass out here. You're running late to the council meeting!”
Loki jolted. He looked up from the vanity and at the doorway. He saw a very unhappy dark haired woman wearing what appeared to be silver Valkyrie armor.
But that didn’t make sense. The last Valkyrie Loki ever saw was when he was barely a toddler. He was told stories as a child how all of the Valkyrie had died a gruesome death. None were left after the battle they had faced. He never knew the true cause for the death of the mighty army. No one knew. Odin refused to give the story no matter who asked. Not even Loki’s masterful persuasion skills could crack the story out of him. The Valkyrie were simply meant to be legends.
Loki stared at her dumbfounded. Which seemed to make the Valkyrie even more unhappy.
“Well are you going to get your ass moving or are you going to keep playing with your hair?”
“What?”
She let out a curse under her breath that Loki couldn’t fully catch.
“The council meeting. You are running late. Your brother sent me to get you, and trust me you are very lucky it was I that was sent, and not him. Or Banner for that matter given your history with him.”
Now Loki was even more confused. His brother? Here? Banner too? That couldn’t be possible. Where the Hel had his timeslipping sent him? The nauseous feeling was coming back. He stared at her for another moment. He needed to do something or he may see himself in a fight, and he was not in the right headspace for a fight at the moment. He quickly cracked a smile at her.
“Oh. Of course, how could I possibly forget the council meeting? Let's get going shall we?”
Loki pushed past her in the doorway, and started to turn left down the long hallway.
“Loki!” Valkyrie yelled.
Loki turned towards her.
“The council room is this way. Like it has been for the past month and a half.”
Loki is out of his league with this situation.
“Right. Just testing you. Very good job with your sense of direction,” Loki said, trying to sound confident.
Valkyrie gave him a side eye. “Uh huh. Let's go your majesty, before his highness gets more annoyed with the late start for this meeting.”
Valkyrie started to walk down the long hallway. Loki trailed slowly behind her. Slowly taking in the ship around him trying to learn the layout as quickly as possible. He has no idea when the next timeslip will occur, or if it will at all, and since no one here will know of his situation it's best to sit back and observe his surroundings until he can figure out a plan to get back to the TVA.
Norns, why him? Why does he have to be the one stuck with the weird time ability that could painfully kill him if left unchecked. Maybe he should have never grabbed the Tesseract from the Avengers.
But then He Who Remains would still be unknown to everyone in the universe. Meaning no one knows the risk of his multiversal war, and the mass destruction and trillions of deaths that could be caused from him. Loki needs to get back to the TVA. He needs to come up with a plan with Mobius, and find Sylvie. He needs to-
Loki was so lost in thought about his situation that he didn’t realize to stop himself before bumping into Valkyrie.
“Hey Lackey, watch where you are going,” she said. Annoyance clear in her voice.
“I do apologize. I was… lost in thought.”
Valkyrie hummed at his words. “What is up with you today? Usually you are more punctual with council meetings. You are always the first one complaining when one of us is more than a minute late.”
“I must have overslept.” Loki knew it wasn’t a good lie, but with how little he knows of his environment it's the best he could do.
“Thor said you were the one to wake him up today though. He wasn’t too happy about it either.”
Damn it. He thought. Of course his most simple lie managed to backfire on him.
“I got caught up with checking around the ship. Lost track of time is all.”
Valkyrie stared at him for a moment. He could tell she wanted to call him out again, but was refraining herself for whatever reason. She let out a small sigh.
“Well lets get going. Can’t keep the King of Asgard waiting any longer than he already has,” Valkyrie said as she opened the door in front of them.
Loki hesitated before following her in. He had no idea what to expect in this room. How he will act with his brother. How his brother will act with him. The last time he saw his brother was when he was in chains in Stark tower. It wasn’t the best of times for him, for either of them. He had been so antagonistic to Thor the last time he had seen him. There were twinges of regret with how he had been with his brother. It's been so long since Loki has seen Thor. It’s hard to tell how long exactly. Could be years, or even decades. Centuries maybe. He wouldn’t know. The TVA doesn’t really have traditional clocks within it. While he would not fully admit it out loud within the TVA, he truly had missed his brother.
Loki took a deep breath and followed Valkyrie inside to the council room.
____________
The room wasn’t grand. Very bare in fact. It was nothing compared to the council room in the halls of Asgard's palace. The walls were gray whereas on Asgard the walls were pure gold. There was a table in the center of the room with five chairs, and a big large window behind it.
Heimdall and Banner were sitting next to each other on one side of the table. Valkyrie took the chair next to the head of the table, where Thor was sitting. She was whispering into Thor’s ear. He couldn't fully catch what she said, but heard something along the lines of he’s acting strange.
Loki did his best to keep his face neutral at seeing his brother, but it was hard. Thor looked very different than last time Loki saw him. Thor was much older that much was obvious, but more noticeably Thor’s hair was very short. It was no longer the long blonde hair that Loki had always seen him in. What would cause the prince known for the long golden hair to cut it so short? The larger shock for Loki when it came to his brother was the missing eye.
That explains the eyepatches on the vanity, he thought. Loki stared at his brother. The eyepatch did suit him. He truly looked like Odin.
Valkyrie finished whispering to Thor. Thor looked up and made eye contact with Loki.
“Ah, brother! Glad you finally decided to join us for the meeting,” Thor said in a teasing tone. A tone that Loki remembered all too well from when they were teenagers.
“Well it’s not a meeting without the God of Mischief, now is it?” Loki said, replicating Thor’s teasing tone. He sat in the chair next to Valkyrie across from Banner. He eyed Banner warily, maybe in this timeline he wasn’t the Hulk, or at least Loki hopes that's the case. A small shiver went down his spine, the memories of the green beast have never sat well with him.
Thor hummed in response. “Well now that we are all finally here we can get on with the meeting. Heimdall how on track are we with getting to Earth?”
Earth? They were going to Earth on this massive ship? Had the Bifrost been broken beyond repair from Loki’s attempted destruction of Joutenheim?
“Without stopping for fuel, or more supplies we should arrive within two months. It will be spring by then which will be good for our people,” Heimdall said in a calm voice.
“But we are running low on fuel preserves.” Bruce said. “I don’t know how long exactly since I’m still getting used to this space travel stuff, but if I had to guess we got about two weeks of fuel from the looks of it. We don’t got enough to hit the next jump point.”
“There’s only about a week and half left for the food supply as well,” Valkyrie chimed in. “I don’t think the remainder of Asgard will take kindly to starving for two months until we reach Midgard."
The remainder of Asgard? What? Loki thought. That doesn’t make sense. Wait-
Thor interrupted Loki’s line of thinking, “We also already know that medical supplies were low based on Loki’s count last week. Doesn’t help that Hela made sure to kill almost all the healers when she briefly took over. So that will also be a top priority for us. Many are still suffering bad injuries.”
Everything finally clicked for Loki. Ragnarok. He had timeslipped into the future where he was present for Ragnarok. The memories shown to him in TVA suddenly filled his brain. Asgard was gone. He was stuck in space on a ship with Thor, and the team… what was it called again? The Revengers. Right. Stuck on a giant space ship in the middle of space with the little remainder of Asgard’s people. He is in the future. The future he was supposed to live had he not taken the Tesseract in 2012. The future he thought he would never see. He really needed to leave and get back to the TVA. To Mobius, and Sylvie.
Loki was so lost within the thoughts of mind at his current situation; he didn't hear Thor talking to him.
“Brother? Loki!” Thor said loudly.
“Oh, uh yes brother?” Loki said, trying his best to seem composed. No one in the room seemed to be buying it though.
“I was asking you if you knew how much water supply we have, and if you are aware of any nearby planets that may have enough supplies to last us the rest of the journey?” Thor said, eyeing his brother warily.
“Well, water. There should be enough for about two weeks.” Loki knew the guess was a shot in the dark, but based on the reports of the other supplies stated it seemed to be a safe one.
“As for planets. We could always go to Xandar. The Nova Core are known for their help are they not?”
Everyone in the room froze in their seats. Bruce looked extremely confused. The Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at Loki then looked at Thor. Thor's face fell into a frown. Before he could open his mouth to question Loki's words, Heimdall spoke up.
“Xandar is on the complete opposite side of our journey. We would have to completely turn around. Which would double the length of our journey to Midgard,” Heimdall said. He too was eyeing Loki.
Loki face flushed red. This whole situation was going horribly and he was losing the little control he had on the situation. Though its not like he had much control to begin with.
“Well then I’m not sure where to go. Perhaps the gate keeper with the eyes that can see the whole universe would be better suited for solving this predicament." Loki needed to leave. They all had their eyes on him. He could tell they were all suspicious of him. He felt a wave of nausea again.
“Brother, are you feeling alright?” Thor said, there was a high level of concern laced in his voice. Loki can’t remember the last time he heard Thor use that vocal tone with him.
“I’m fine,” Loki said sharply. “I didn’t sleep the best last night. I think I shall go lie down.” Loki stood up and left the council room before he could hear anyone object.
____________
Loki rushed back to the bedroom he was in earlier as fast as he could. He needs to figure out how to activate the timeslipping. He can’t deal with what is going on with Asgard, or what's left of it. Not when there’s a multiversal being out there who could destroy everything at any moment.
He reached into the depths of brain, trying to think of a spell that could activate the timeslipping, but none came to mind. As wise and talented as his mother was when it came to teaching all that there is to magic, timeline manipulation was something she never taught her youngest son.
Loki tried all sorts of spells on himself. The green glow of his magic filled the room around. But no spell, no matter how complicated or simple it was, would activate the timeslip.
Loki sighed and looked out the window into the vastness of outer space. This was hopeless. All his previous timeslips just happened while he was walking or standing in place. Nothing he personally did had caused it, so why would this time be any different? Maybe he should just wait until it happens. If it happens, he thought.
The door to the bedroom suddenly opened. Loki turned his head over his shoulder and saw his brother standing there. He let out another small sigh. He should have known that his brother would come looking for him, especially after his abrupt exit from the meeting room.
“I know between the two of us you have always had a wider medical knowledge, but even I know that standing and staring out a large window isn’t the same as lying down in a bed after what appears to be a restless night of sleep,” Thor said.
Loki said nothing. Just stared at his brother. Thor walked over to the vanity and grabbed a bottle of alcohol, and poured it into two glasses. He then joined Loki by the window and he held one of the glasses out to Loki for him to grab.
Loki stared at the glass in Thor’s hand for a moment before slowly grabbing it. He took a small sip and cringed at the taste. It was incredibly bitter, and extremely sweet at the same time. What an odd combination of flavors, he thought.
The two of them stood in silence for a while. Loki slowly sipping his drink while Thor downed his very quickly. Eventually after staring out the window for what felt like ages, Loki put his glass down and decided to break the silence.
“How did you know I was in here?” Loki asked
“You said you were tired and wanted to lie down. I highly doubt you would want to do that in any other room on this ship,” Thor shrugged.
“Since when do you trust my words about my whereabouts?”
“Since you decided to be late to the council meeting which is highly unlike you brother. Besides, you have proven to be true to your words this past month since Ragnarok. ”
Loki didn’t know how to respond. Before he could summon up some words Thor continued.
“You are the one that wants to start right on the dot every week. I mean, you were the one who woke me up and dragged me out of bed complaining about how we were going to be late to the meeting if I didn’t get up. Only for you to then be more than ten minutes late.”
“I do apologize brother. As I told the Valkyrie I was checking things around the ship. Lost track of time is all,” Loki said. Though he could tell Thor wasn’t buying it.
“What is with you Loki? This past month you have been so put together. Acting the most princely I have ever seen you act. You were breaking up fights between our restless people, and helping in the med ward. Helping Heimdall steer the ship when he needs a short break and I am unable to step in. Your lies have been awful today, which is surprising since that's been your main thing for the past thousand years or so. You are walking around as if you know nothing at all.”
Well that was very true. Loki knew nothing at all. All he knew was he timeslipped into a future he was supposed to have lived. He couldn’t possibly explain that to Thor though. He knew his brother, and Thor would never understand the life Loki has lived since they saw each other last. Thor wouldn’t even believe him if he tried to explain the situation. If the roles were reversed, Loki wouldn’t believe him either.
“I suppose it’s just been a lot. I mean with everything that's happened. It’s been tiring,” Loki said, actually telling the truth.
“I understand. I mean our father not telling us about a murderous evil sister for hundreds of years until right before his death. Being stuck on Sakaar for weeks, and destroying our planet and home that we grew up on to then be trapped on this ship with the few hundreds of people left is tiring. We have been through quite a lot.”
“Our father never did like telling us things did he?” Loki said, a light grimace visible on his face.
There was a pause.
“I am truly sorry Loki.”
“What?” Loki said, very confused.
“For not being with you when you were told of your origins. It wasn’t right of father to keep that from you. You should have seen how angry I was once he told me the truth after you fell from the Bifrost.”
“There’s nothing you could have done. Odin relished in his secrets. He never once thought how they would affect others. He probably would have never said anything at all had I not gone to the vault after we went to Joutenheim.”
“You would have found out one way or another. I’m sure of it, and I will always have wished I was there when you found out. Once father told me the truth, your words to me from our fight made sense to me, when you said you weren’t my brother.”
Loki frowned at the memory.
“But even after the truth that you were a frost giant came out. I still knew that line from you wasn’t true. Adopted or not, you are my brother Loki. You always have been and you always will be. Frost giant and all.”
Loki stared at his brother. He never thought that his brother would speak these words to him. He had occasionally dreamed of it, yes, but he never thought he would actually hear Thor say the words out loud. The Thor and Loki of this timeline truly had grown together. It made him think back to his original timeline, and his relationship with his Thor.
Sentiment. He used to always laugh at the sentiment Thor held for him. Hel, he even stabbed him over it in New York, but here Loki was standing next to a version of his brother whom he never thought he would see again feeling very sentimental.
Loki let out a small smile, “Thank you Thor.”
Thor smiled back at Loki and put his hand on Loki’s shoulder giving it a tight squeeze. “Well, I should get back to the meeting with Valkyrie, Bruce, and Heimdall. You stay here and get some-”
Loki interrupted his brother’s words by doing something that even shocked himself. He hugged Thor. Fully willingly all without the intention to stab his brother. Norns, when was the last time he did that? Not since he was a young child at least.
Thor seemed shocked as well. He stood stiff for a moment before he wrapped his arms around his younger brother, squeezing him back. They stood like that for several moments before eventually breaking the hug.
“Maybe you do need rest brother. Hugs without knives is not like you.”
Loki chuckled, “Maybe I do.”
Thor patted Loki on the shoulder. “Well now I really need to get back to the meeting. Val was already unhappy with your late start, and she’s probably getting more restless with the forced recess I made to check on you. You should lie down brother, take the day off.”
Thor started to walk away from the window. Loki watched him, thinking of what just happened. Maybe this Thor might understand his current predicament. Not fully of course, but maybe if Loki opened up just a little he could gain Thor’s insights. Maybe this Thor would fully believe his words.
“Thor?”
Thor stopped walking towards the door and turned around.
“Yes, Loki?”
“There's something I want to talk with you about.”
“Is it urgent? Or can it wait until after the meeting is done?”
“Somewhat urgent I would say.”
Thor's gaze narrowed. “What is it?”
Loki let out a depth breath.
“It’s all very complicated. I don’t quite have the full image myself yet. But I promise you that I am telling the truth, and everything will make sense once I explain everything. I am not fully your-AUGH!” Loki’s body suddenly started to contort again. The pain level in his body was nearly identical to his last timeslip.
Of course the one time in his life he wants to be fully open with his brother the universe stops him. Thor rushed over to his brother.
“Loki!” He heard Thor yell.
That was the last thing he heard before it all went black.
_____________
“AUGH!” Loki finished yelling.
He immediately looked down at his arms. Atoms still there? Yes. Thank the Norns, he thought. He looked at them again. The leather sleeves were gone and he was once again in his TVA white dress shirt.
“He’s back!” a familiar voice called out.
Loki gasped and lifted his head up. O.B was standing in front of him and Mobius was to his right. He was fully back in the R&A room.
“You okay Loki? That looked like the most painful one so far.” Mobius said, concern evident in his voice.
“Yes,” Loki gasped out. “I’m fine. How long did that last?”
“Uhh about thirty seconds,” O.B said.
Thirty seconds. Only thirty seconds? It felt like hours, Loki thought. He must have had a shocked look on his face at the reveal of that information, as Mobius was quick to comment.
“You sure you’re okay Loki?”
Loki looked at Mobius then at the Aura Extractor in front of O.B. He put on a quick smile and clapped his hands.
“Never better. Now let's fix this timeslipping shall we?”