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Stephen was about to put down his cup while the Cloak quickly dusted the table and put a saucer before guiding his hand slowly so he wouldn’t spill his tea.
I must be too tired. No, I wouldn’t descend to self-pity, not at this time of the year.
He smiled and said, “Thank you.” The Cloak nodded her collars. “Wong has been yapping to me not using a saucer. At least, you were paying attention.”
He patted at the seat beside him. “Come on, we both have been working too hard. It's New Year’s Eve. We’ve earned our rights to chill at least for one night. I hope there are not too many idiots summoning demons at this time of the year.”
As if on cue, there was a swooshing sound behind him. The Cloak quickly flew to his shoulders. He could feel the Cloak sticking to him tighter.
He smiled. “Wong, do you finally decide to watch the ball drop live with me?”
“Very droll, I’m sure but I won’t. Unlike you, I actually have multiversal duties to attend to.”
He knew that voice. He readied his hands for spells just in case and turned to face his guest. “Loki! I thought you were dead.”
Loki was there, standing in what he assumed must be his green Asgardian robe complete with his horns. He wasn’t alone. A guy that looked like an emo version of him, according to America, was floating besides Loki. That guy was unconscious. He could have sworn that that his doppelganger’s dark cloak hissed and moved. He drew a deep breath and focused back on Loki. “Who is that guy? Is it another variant of me?”
“You know about variants and yet you questioned why I was not dead. I guess the intellect requirement to become the Sorcerer Supreme is not too high.” Loki dropped himself on the lounge chair he was about to sit five seconds earlier. His doppleganger’s body just dropped with a resounding thud at the sofa next to Loki.
He winced in sympathy. “Could you please drop me, I meant my variant, a bit softer please?” He sat directly opposite Loki and stole a look at his variant. Sunken eyes, dark circles, gaunt face. “That guy must have been through a lot. I could check for his vitals.”
Loki waved a hand nonchalantly. “Ah right, I keep forgetting that you are a real doctor. Don’t worry about him. He is super sturdy, perhaps much more than you.”
He was not convinced but when he was about to step closer to look at his variant, the black cloak rose and hissed at him he raised his hands in surrender and stepped back. So it wasn’t my imagination.
He sighed and moved to sit opposite Loki. “Do you want some tea? Or perhaps chamomile? Darjeeling? Pe Er?”
“I thought Americans like to drink coffee. That’s what Mobius always drinks.” Realizing that he was talking to himself, Loki forced a smile and said, “Darjeeling will be nice.”
“Coming right up.” He never gave up the chance to show off his serving drink skills. He conjured up two more cups and a hot kettle and let the kettle pour tea to Loki first then his variant.
“Not bad for a mortal magic. And I don’t think he needs any tea at the moment, just a lot of therapy and company.”
“Pardon?”
Loki picked his cup up and raised it to his mouth to sip it. He sighed in content. “Not bad for a Midgardian.”
Stephen rolled his eyes. “I got it. Our tea and magic are inferior to the Asgardians. Could you please get on with why you show up in my study at 2 pm on the New Year’s Eve and bring my variant with you? What have you done to him?”
“I didn’t do anything to him. In fact, I was the one saving him from non-existence. It starts from May 2012 when your stupid Avengers went to save New York.”
He wanted to say that Avengers was not his but he agreed that most of them were stupid. He went straight to his main concern. ”Do you need to start from more than 11 years ago? How much tea do you need?”
It was Loki’s turn to roll his eyes. “I’ll finish faster if you don’t interrupt me. Believe me I know how to tell stories because I’m the God of Stories.”
“I thought you were the God of Lies and Mischiefs.”
“I’m a God of many talents. Now please shut up and listen.”
Three hours plus 5 pots of tea and 2 tins of biscuits later, finally Loki finished his own story plus his variant’s story which he knows because he indeed was the God of Stories and apparently also the guardian of the Multiverses now.
“So you were a variant of Loki who attacked New York but escaped because Hulk hated stairs.” He clicked his thumb and forefinger. “I knew it, lack of exercise is a canon event that could lead to branching in the multiverse.” Looking at Loki’s raised eyebrow, he continued, “You were caught by the TVA whose existence I just knew 3 hours ago.”
“I thought as the Sorcerer Supreme you knew about the existence of TVA. Isn’t it written in your Sorcerer Supreme starter kit or something?”
“I’m not the Sorcerer Supreme. Wong and I are going to have a long conversation about the things he doesn’t share with me.”
“Really? You are not?! I think your magic is the greatest among all the sorcerers.” He smiled showing all his teeth and quickly added, “For Midgardian of course.”
Stephen rolled his eyes heavenly. “Of course. It’s a long story why I am not the Sorcerer Supreme and now is not the time for that story. Thanks for the compliment although I don’t think I’m the greatest sorcerer in Midgardian.” He didn’t have the heart to ask that if Loki knew all stories in all multiverses, why didn’t he know that Stephen wasn’t the Sorcerer Supreme in this universe. Perhaps he was too busy or something. “Next time you can drop by and we can swap stories.”
Loki’s eyes brightened. “I’d love to.”
Stephen continued to summarize Loki’s stories to make sure he understood the situation completely.
“After learning physics for centuries, I respect you for that, so you could save the Loom but it still didn’t work. So finally, you saved the multiverses by sitting at the trees of multiverses that you shaped like Yggdrasil. You make sure any new branches of new universes won’t get pruned out as you value free wills and lives.” He rose and bowed down in front of Loki as he assumed this Eastern gesture might be appreciated by Loki as well. “I’m really grateful for your sacrifice. Nobody knows of your sacrifices except for your friends at the TVA. You’re truly a hero now.”
Loki rose up and bowed back. “Don’t mention it. I’ve heard of your sacrifices as well, Doctor Stephen Strange. Your fight with Dormammu, all the future possibilities you had gone through to get the winning chance against Thanos, and all your other sacrifices. The Avengers get all the glory but you do a lot more although your deeds are hidden from the public. I know because I’m the God of Stories and also because TVA knows a lot about canon events. Now could we please sit down so we could finish our talk?”
Both went back to sit.
Stephen continued, “So because you know all the universes, you know the existence of this Strange Supreme and how Uatu didn’t interfere even though this Strange was lonely with a lot of psychological burdens. He knew that slowly his demons were influencing his thought. This Uatu sounds like a dick.”
“Oh he is a dick, he even plays favorite saying Carter is his favorite right in front of my Yggdrrazil.” Loki scrunched his forehead. “He is supposed to be impartial but I don’t think he is doing a great job. Your variant was driven mad but he didn’t even lift a finger to at least suggest therapy or give him some company. And he called this Strange his friend as well but he did nothing to help.”
“If he is the Watcher, wouldn’t he know we talk about him?”
“Who cares? Come on, you’ve faced down Dormammu, Thanos , Memphisto, Nightmare, and the likes. Are you scared of Uatu who is not supposed to interfere?”
“Good point. No, I’m not scared of him. I just think it’s not good to talk bad about someone behind his back or perhaps in front of him or below him. I’m not too sure where Uatu is located at the moment.”
Loki snickered. “That’s more like it, I think he is technically floating above us but I don’t really care. He is a dick and he knows it.”
“So you use your magic to return this Strange Supreme back to existence without destroying the universe he managed to restore. Thank you again for doing that.” Stephen put his hand to his chin as he looked at his variant. “I wonder what kind of therapy is needed for him. Perhaps I can bring him to Kamar Taj. I’m sure Wong will be so glad to see another variant of me. At least this one won’t try to kill us. Who am I kidding? He was trying to kill everyone to save his universe, wasn’t he?” He shrugged. “At least I had some practice defeating myself.” He waved his hand nonchalantly. “I’m sure you know all the details being you know the God of Stories.”
“I actually don’t. Do you know there are literally billions of different stories in the multiverses happening at the same millisecond? I could hardly keep track of all of them.”
“You have a much tougher job than Uatu. He merely observes. But you need to do something to save those multiverses.”
“Thank you. At last someone who understands me. What’s the big deal with Uatu when I literally keep all the multiverses to function properly?”
“A question.” Out of habit, Stephen raised his hand as if he were in a class or a seminar. “If you are here talking to me, who is watching the multiverses right now?”
Loki shrugged. “A copy of me who could function at around 90% of course. If there is anything harder that he couldn’t handle, I’ll just come back as if I never return. Time means nothing for a master of time. I just learned this new trick recently.”
“You need to teach me this trick next time. Now I need to deal with this emo me first. Did you already exorcise the demons out of him?”
“Yes. Although I’m not 100% sure. There may be one or two demons…. or perhaps ninety demons left. I’m no expert in exorcism.”
“Of course, but you’re an expert in Physics now, I still couldn’t put my head around it. So to do list. First, call Wong. Second, ask him to contain emo me and check if there is any demon left. Third, find a therapist in Kamar Taj or elsewhere. I’m sure there is a therapist who deals with grief of losing the loved one then absorbing demons to revive the said loved one, accidentally destroying his universe in the process, then killing other powered people in order to save his universe, and sacrificing himself to get his own existence wiped out, and getting revived by a very kind God of Stories. No biggie.” He wiped his forehead. “And I thought zombie me was cool.”
“I don’t envy your job.”
“Your job is much harder to keep the multiverses together. Thank you again for saving the other other other me.”
“You’re welcome. I must return to my Yggdrasil.”
“Loki, do you want to stay to watch the ball drop with me? I’m ordering pizza and calling Wong and America to join us. You said you are still keeping track of the multiverses as we speak so perhaps a couple more hours won’t hurt. You can call your friends on TVA. Who are they? OB, Casey, Mobius, B15, and perhaps Sylvie? They can join us since they know our existence anyway. You can even call Thor but he thinks you’re dead so perhaps not a great idea.”
“You do have eidetic memory. I may try to call Mobius and the rest. Give them a good surprise as they haven’t seen me in a while. As for Thor, perhaps next time. Thank you, Strange.”
“You can call me Stephen. And no worries. After what you have done, I’m honored to be your friend.”
“The honor is mine.”