Chapter Text
Stepping through the time door and gripping the back of his neck, Loki spun around, looking to see where Sylvie had come through. They had come here on a crucial mission- to eliminate the Kang variant hiding out in this timeline.
As Loki looked around to see Sylvie gathering herself beside him, he realized he had been holding his breath, almost for her. The thing was, Loki didn't know how long it had been since she had been home; to Asgard. If she could even call it home.
They were here because this timeline’s Loki had been conspiring with the pervading conqueror they needed to kill, likely unknowing of his true identity and motives. On top of all that, this happened to be the branch where the Loki variant was King, no less. Loki wasn’t sure how seeing a variant’s life that had gone so triumphantly would affect Sylvie after a life like this had been stolen from her. A touch of jealousy stirred within himself , if he was being honest. This variant apparently didn’t have to impersonate his father to hold the throne.
But Sylvie just shook her hair out, brandished her sword. “Where is this ‘ King ’?” She snorted, then started to storm off towards the nearest passageway.
“Sylvie, wait!” Loki called after her running to keep up with her brisk strides. He wondered how much of the palace she remembered, or if she even knew where she was going at all. “We don’t know this variant, or the powers he might be harboring. I don’t know if an unplanned ambush is our best bet here!”
Scrambling to pull out his own sword, Loki kept up with Sylvie’s swift pace, soon finding himself at her side as they made their way down the corridor. Sylvie huffed. “If I enchant him first, it’s not going to be a problem!”
“Fair enough.” Loki tilted his head, smirking at Sylvie’s unending confidence, before sternly adding, “But we don’t know of his protection, his army. We may as well be walking straight into a fire. At least- let me mask our presence first so we’re unseen.”
Sylvie lifted her chin and widened her eyes with impatience, but decidedly stopped short in front of Loki. Loki stiffened to a halt as Sylvie paused directly in front of him, then swiveled around to face him.
“Fine. Only if it’ll shut you up ,” Sylvie quipped, but her lips pulled up at the end. He caught that barely-there smirk and smugly smiled back, savoring in the fact that she had listened to him at all.
Sylvie offered her palms out to Loki. Loki blinked twice, confused.
“Does it work like enchantment? Do you need physical contact?” Sylvie asked.
Loki wavered for a moment. “Err, no it does not.” He took the opportunity to grasp both her wrists, decidedly keeping eye contact as he placed them down at her sides. He didn’t let himself think about the fact that the minimal contact sparked an electric current under his palms.
Sylvie eyed him curiously, and released a breath as his hands dropped hold of her. Concentrating, Loki flicked both hands into loose fists. A shimmer and suddenly they were cloaked in his magic, only visible to each other. He grinned, presenting his arm forward. “Shall we?”
As it turned out, finding the King Loki from this timeline was not difficult after all, especially when infiltrating the Asgardian palace as two mere shadows on the wall.
Sylvie and Loki located him in a dining room with several advisors and court members, getting plenty full off of Asgardian wine and reciting theatrical tales of splendor in the nine realms.
“Hmmph. He’s drunk. Reminds me of someone.” Sylvie snorted, rolling her eyes. “Looks like him too.”
Loki straightened up and brought his hands to his hips, cocking his head slightly. “I don’t see it.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” Sylvie pouted and patted Loki on the shoulder patronizingly. Then she brazenly took a step towards where the pompous king sat, but not before Loki grabbed ahold of her wrist. Her head whipped around to him.
“I have to drop the shield from us to use my magic fully.” He informed her. His voice wavered as his next words came out. “Can you trust me to work with you on this?”
It had been several weeks worth of time, perhaps even a month, since the events at the citadel...or at least it had felt that way. Once Loki had managed to get the TVA on his side and locate Sylvie, time had become a mess as they jumped from timeline to timeline hunting Kang variants and their armies, working to kill off as many as possible.
The two had put both their brief moment of passion- and Sylvie’s betrayal- behind them, the new mission at hand being much more important to the safety of the universe. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t still a barrier between them, built of broken trust and unresolved, unexplainable tension.
Loki’s eyes cut into Sylvie's, and it felt like time had stopped between the two of them. Sylvie held his stare, and he could almost feel her reliving the fight at the citadel in her mind.
But time hadn’t stopped outside of them. King Loki and company roared in enjoyment merely steps away, the sounds of their drunken gathering getting louder and louder.
“ Yes. I’ll trust you.” Sylvie spoke the words slow and clear, like they went against every cell in her being.
Loki breathed, relief washing over him. He’d almost forgotten he’d been holding Sylvie’s wrist, which he then released. “Is it worth it to waste our energy on this entire crowd, when Kang and who knows what backup will soon be behind them?”
“I don't know. How are we supposed to get around them to even find Kang?” Sylvie countered.
“Well, maybe we don’t go around. We go through.” Loki’s eyes started to glitter, the way they always did when he was concocting a scheme.
“What do you mean?” Sylvie, ever the optimist, crossed her arms. She was already looking at Loki with a skeptical gaze.
“Well, you said I resembled the man,” Loki gestured to King Loki at the table in front of them, “What if we got him alone, took him out, and I impersonated him?” His arms went wide, head tilting.
Sylvie rolled her eyes, but smirked in response. “You impersonate the man. And how does that get us any closer to Kang?”
“Well- you may not have been able to enchant me alone, but what if we enchanted him together? Like alioth? That’s how we figure out where Kang is hiding. And then- we ambush Kang when he least expects it.” Loki grinned, his pride unmistakable.
Sylvie pursed her lips, seemingly trying to come up with another argument but coming up dry. “Alright. Can’t hurt to try. I guess it would do us well to have these cronies on our side.” Sylvie gestured to the various court members at the table. “Next time we go with my plan tho.”
Loki brought his hands to his hips and made a face at the last remark.The next thing he knew, Sylvie had grabbed his wrist and was pulling him away back towards the corridor they came from. He hadn’t realized her next plan would come up so soon.
“If he’s anything like us, and he is , he’s probably sensed the magic you're using to shield us by now. We need him alone, so I say we find his chambers and stake out in wait.” Sylvie pulled Loki along, stopping her pace when he was slightly ahead of her. “You probably know this place better than I do,” She asserted, a touch of bitterness staining her voice. “Care to lead the way?”