#loki s2 finale spoilers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tallseaweed · 10 months

Text

Relinquish Your Burden: Chapter 1

Summary: 3½ years have passed since Loki gave the multiverse a chance. What if it no longer had to be his burden to bear?

Word Count: 1.3k

For a sneak peek at what you might be getting yourself into, check the AO3 tags!

1,277 days.

That's how long it had been since Loki had sacrificed his freedom to give the multiverse a chance.

After leaving Mobius with an open-ended goodbye, Sylvie had returned to the branch she’d begun to call home.

For a while, her new life was everything she'd hoped it would be. She finally had true freedom, a supportive community, a job she enjoyed, and had even adopted a cat! All without the threat of the imploding Temporal Loom hanging over her head.

All of it was possible thanks to Loki. Every day, her thoughts were pulled toward him—holding together the branches of the multiverse.

At first, these thoughts filled her with gratitude. His sacrifice was the reason she was finally able to live. Never again would anyone have to survive like she had—fighting tooth and nail for the right to exist with the TVA breathing down their neck around every corner.

But as the weeks turned into months, and those months turned to years, guilt about Loki's situation began to steadily infiltrate its way into the peaceful life she'd built.

Yes, she finally had everything she'd ever wanted, but at what cost?

The passionate, wise, and endlessly infuriating man she had come to know was enslaved by his selflessness.

If Sylvie had been able to harness the branches as Loki had, would she have done it? She'd like to think she would, but her previous actions seemed to speak otherwise.

"I asked for your help and you walked away."

"Just so we're clear, no, I didn't. I'm here, aren't I? Again!"

"You're only here because you couldn't kill him."

Loki had been right. She wouldn't have been at the TVA helping with the Loom if Victor Timely had been as easy for her to kill as He Who Remains. Years of living in apocalypses had made her selfish and reactive. She had to be selfish to survive, and being soft would have gotten her killed millennia ago. But maybe she had taken it a bit too far.

"You can't give people free will and then just walk away, Sylvie."

"It's up to us to protect them. It's up to us to do better than He Who Remains."

She hadn't even considered protecting the timelines. She'd freed them, hadn't she? Naively, she'd thought that would be the extent of her responsibility. She'd been so relieved to finally be able to live, that it had blinded her from seeing the bigger picture.

No, she wouldn't have sacrificed what Loki had, because she was selfish in a way that he would never be.

She had let him down so many times.

The worst realizations came to her at night, when the world was dark and dormant, unable to distract her from the harshest truth: that Loki would never have chosen this if he hadn't been forced to.

"If we make it, and the TVA is gone, there might be a timeline for you to rule."

"Ah, and then I'd finally be happy," he quipped back sarcastically. Leaning over, he nudged her shoulder. "What about you? What will you do, when this is all over?"

"I don't know."

"I don't know either. Maybe… Maybe we could figure it out together." As his eyes locked onto hers, she saw the deep sincerity sparkling within. If she was being honest with herself, the weight of the moment frightened her.

"Maybe."

Loki hadn't wanted a throne or glory, he'd wanted to have company. Her company, before she had taken advantage of his feelings and shattered his trust in her completely. When faced with the endless possibilities of the multiverse, Loki had wanted to create a life where he wouldn't be alone.

Yes, Sylvie loved the life she'd created, but with astounding clarity, she realized she would never be able to live it with a clear conscience. Not unless she tried everything she could to help Loki regain his freedom.

With a sigh of resignation, she shuffled over to her closet and crouched down to open the safe she kept at the bottom. With a click, it swung open to reveal He Who Remains' TemPad. With a swipe of her finger, she opened a Time Door to what had formally been the Citadel at the End of Time.

When Sylvie stepped through the faint glow of the opaque orange door, there was no ground beneath her. Freefalling, she desperately swiped at the TemPad until she tumbled back into her apartment.

Sprawled onto her shag rug, she tried to calm her erratic breathing.

What the bloody hell just happened?

Obviously, the kintsugi asteroid she had been expecting was no longer there. But she could’ve sworn the portal she'd seen Loki pull himself and the timelines through had led to that exact location.

When she cleared her mind enough to remember past the panic of falling, she realized there had definitely been a green light in her peripheral vision. And the distinct aura of powerful magic.

Tentatively, she swiped open another Time Door. This time, she opened it above her, so she could keep her feet firmly planted in her bedroom. When she stood and saw what awaited her on the other side, her breath caught in her throat.

Yggdrasil.

Loki had woven the timelines into the Worlds Tree.

Her childhood memories were barely more than blips of a dream, but they had been enough to create an instinctual reverence for the tree that linked the Nine Realms together. Most people, herself included—endless skeptic that she was—believe it to be intangible, or possibly even metaphorical. Regardless, she couldn't think of a more fitting symbol to uphold the multiverse.

She didn’t know how long she stood there marveling at the glowing green behemoth, but when she dropped back into her room, her cheeks were wet with tears.

Sylvie couldn’t sleep that night. After she had processed her initial awe at Loki’s spectacular feat, she realized something vital: magic of that scale could sustain itself.

While she herself had never been able to manifest anywhere near that much power, she’d seen enough in her overly long life to know it was true. The knowledge was partially based on experience, but more compellingly it seemed to come from innate wisdom deep within. Seeing as every Loki she had met (minus the alligator) seemed to draw on a similar magical core, this seemed like something she could trust.

She had felt the life force from Loki’s Yggdrasil. Regardless of its cosmic position, power, and creator, her instincts told her it embodied the characteristics of any other tree. Including the ability to be self-sufficient.

So why was Loki still there? Didn’t he realize this too?

She supposed it was possible he didn’t. He had seemed a bit off. One second he'd seemed so sure that Timely's little device would fix the loom. Then, within a minute of entering the control room, he'd seemed absolutely positive that his sacrifice was the only way to save them all. What had changed?

But what if he did realize his Yggdrasil's self-sufficient potential, and there was some other reason he was staying there, resigned to his self-imposed martyrdom?

Well then, if that were the case, she would just have to convince him he was wrong. That shouldn’t be too hard. After all, she’d successfully done it before.

She could convince him that he deserved to be happy too.

A trickle of doubt penetrated her confidence. Based on their last few interactions, it was entirely possible that Loki might not trust her anymore.

But maybe she wouldn’t have to convince him alone.

As the sunrise filtered into her bedroom, she opened a new Time Door. It was about time she checked on an old friend.

-----

Notes: As much as I loved the last episode, it hurt too much to think that Loki would have to be alone forever. I really wanted to use some of the dialogue from episode 5 where Loki and Sylvie talk at the bar, but unfortunately this Sylvie never had that conversation.

All that being said, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first published fic! I'm guessing that it'll end up being at least 8 chapters.

Next chapter we get our first Mobius POV...

Next Chapter | Masterlist

#loki #loki fanfic #loki s2 finale spoilers #loki spoilers #fix it fic #lokius #lokius fic #mcu loki #loki marvel #mobius #mobius m mobius #mobius mcu #loki series #mcu #marvel #brodinsons #the sun will shine on us again #relinquish your burden

30 notes · View notes

tallseaweed · 9 months

Text

Relinquish Your Burden: Chapter 3

Word Count: 3.1k

It was clear that winter had arrived in New York.

After picking out his fur cape, Thor made sure to button Love into her warm jacket and fur-lined boots. The two of them stood at the hatch of their ship, the wind swirling through their hair and snow catching in their eyelashes.

It had been many years since Thor had last been to the Midgardian metropolis. He hadn’t been keen on returning, but his ship picked up on a distress signal about a mid-level invasion, and he had sworn that the Earth was under his protection.

The city would always remind him of fighting against Loki and his—no, Thanos’s —army of Chitauri. It brought forth the ache of fighting his brother, whom at the time he had recently believed dead. Not that it would be the last time.

In retrospect, he could not help but realize that although that time had been painful, all the people he had loved and lost had still been alive.

His father. Odin had been the one who used dark energy to send him to Midgard with the objective of stopping Loki by any means necessary.

His mother. Before he departed, Frigga had imparted her own wishes to him: "Bring him home, Thor."

Loki. Initially, he had hoped that his brother could be reasoned with. He soon learned just how deep Loki’s resentment ran.

"Did you mourn?" Loki mocked.

"We all did. Our father-"

Loki cut him off with a finger. "Your father. He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

Thor had soon found himself somewhere between demanding and pleading.

"You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream! You come home."

His words almost seemed to get through to Loki, his eyes shining with emotion before he huffed out a humorless laugh. Schooling his features into indifference, his next words crumbled Thor's resolve.

"I don't have it."

After his initial inquiries about Jane’s whereabouts, Agent Coulson had told him that S.H.I.E.L.D. had moved her to Norway during the battle, effectively keeping her out of harm's way. Although it became a point of contention in their relationship, he had been relieved that she was safe.

A lump formed in Thor's throat. He should have spent more time with her while he still had the chance. The fresh grief from her loss was still so close to the surface. How precious and fleeting human lives were.

"I mean to rule them, as why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them."

"Well, yes," Loki replied.

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, Brother. A throne would suit you ill."

He had not always believed this of Loki. During his banishment on Earth—after Thor realized just how incompatible his temperament and desires actually were for a would-be king—he came to the realization that his brother had been better suited to the throne all along. He had been cunning where Thor was guileless, quick where Thor was clumsy. Loki never lost sight of the bigger picture, while Thor let any small or imagined slights lure him into tunnel vision.

Although he had not been on Asgard when their father told Loki his true heritage, it was painfully clear how much his little brother had been affected. What had their parents been thinking, not telling the two of them something so vital? It would not have been the family-splintering reveal that it had become if Odin and Frigga had not let their children believe that Frost Giants were heartless monsters. How could they allow that, while knowing full well that Loki was one?

In the end, it had taken Loki until the end of his shortened life to finally accept himself as he was.

"I, Loki, prince of Asgard…"

His gaze landed meaningfully on Thor. "Odinson…

The rightful king of Jotunheim…"

"Uncle Thor!"

Thor was jolted from his memories, hastily wiping a tear from his eye. Now was not the time to grieve the past. Sprawled out below their ship was a large snow-blanketed park crawling with the brown-shelled bodies of a band of Procyonites. According to the intel from the distress signal, the rogue group was working for themselves, and set on using New York's power grid to recharge their ship. If the human screams from down below were any indication, the Procyonites were not asking nicely.

"Alright Love, we've got to take these brown-shelled guys down to protect the nice humans. Are you up for that?" She nodded. "You take that group by the trees there, and I'll take the ones by the statue." He handed her Stormbreaker. “Just call for me if you need any help."

And just like that, they leaped off of their ship-turned-home and launched into the battle.

Thor felt himself relax. It was all so familiar, the adrenaline, the comforting swing of Mjolnir, the muscle memory kicking in. Fighting grounded him, for there was no room to think of the past or the future in the throes of battle.

Suddenly, a flash of green caught his eye. Loki must have just taken down an opponent—

He froze, his heart falling through his stomach. Loki was dead. For certain this time. He was imagining things since he had just been thinking of him. He tried to refocus on defending himself from the ire of his current Procyonite opponent, but the distraction had cost him. Just as he braced himself for the incoming blow, another burst of green light had the creature slumping to the ground.

Thor blinked.

Before him stood a blonde woman with a steely countenance. She appeared to be wearing some sort of battered imitation of Loki's Asgardian leathers. When they made eye contact, she just smirked and spun around to take down another opponent, this time with her machete.

Thor's body finally caught up with his racing thoughts, and he threw Mjolnir at the Procyonite, knocking it unconscious. Before the woman could get away, he reached out, catching her wrist.

"Who are you" he demanded, eyes flashing dangerously, "and how do you have my brother's magic."

She managed to twist her wrist out of his iron grip, but didn't move to get away. Placing her hands on her hips, she asked "What makes you think it's Loki's magic and not my own?"

Thor narrowed his eyes, and the ends of the woman's hair began to levitate from static electricity. "Because your whole getup is obviously modeled after his.” Pausing to take her in fully, he added, “Though you look more like some faded photocopy of him if anything."

The woman huffed and rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what he said." In the blink of an eye, Thor had her shoved against a tree." What did you just say?" Thunder boomed nearby.

She sighed, seemingly exasperated. "I've met your brother. Real charmer."

"Have care for how you speak of the dead," Thor growled menacingly.

Her face softened toward something akin to sympathy. "Your Loki may be dead, but the one I met isn't."

This sent Thor's mind reeling, but he managed to keep her pinned in place. "You speak as if you believe there to be more than one Loki of Asgard."

At this, the corner of her mouth twitched. Eyes glinting, she asked, "Have you ever heard of the multiverse?"

---

Mobius's eyebrows rose at his unexpected company.

"Sylvie- what?"

"Where are we?" asked the young girl. She looked familiar, but Mobius was having a hard time remembering her name.

Thor looked down at her kindly before he glanced back up at Sylvie, eyes hardening. "I'm not sure, but this woman knows something about your Uncle Loki, and I intend to find out what."

Suddenly, Mobius remembered. She was Love, Thor's adopted daughter, Gorr's wish from the Altar of Eternity. As the TVA's former expert in the pursuit of dangerous Variants, he had carefully monitored Gorr's timeline and even brought in a handful of Gorr Variants. All of the dangerous ones had watched their daughter die in their arms.

"But Uncle Loki died, right?"

Sylvie cut in, directing her reply at Thor. "Your Loki died, yes. But in the multiverse, he was one of many."

"You expect me to believe that there are multiple versions of everyone just running about?"

Mobius laughed hollowly as Thor’s eyes snapped to him. "Back at the TVA, we called them Variants."

Sylvie's face hardened briefly at the term, but she recovered quickly. Before Thor had the chance to ask what the TVA was, she redirected the conversation. "Would it help if I proved to you that time travel is real?"

"Oh, I know it is, I've done it myself," Thor responded smugly. "You have to get into a time travel suit and get sucked into some sort of quantum portal. It's how we Avengers reversed Thanos's snap."

"Funnily enough, that's actually how our Loki" Mobius gestured to himself and Sylvie, "came to the TVA in the first place-"

Sylvie elbowed him in the arm and hissed "You're getting ahead of yourself, let me do the talking." He rolled his eyes but allowed her to continue. She looked back at Thor. "What if I told you that we just time traveled and you didn't even realize it?"

Thor scoffed. "I remember that particular sensation quite well, I assure you. I would have realized."

"Oh would you?" Sylvie smirked. "Then why are the three of us on live TV?" She gestured to the news broadcast. Sure enough, Thor, Love, and Sylvie were on screen, fighting the Procyonites in New York.

"Woah," breathed Love. Thor's eyes widened as he took it all in.

"The orange doorway we stepped through—was time travel?"

"'Fraid so," Mobius answered calmly. He was used to having to explain the TVA to the Variants he would interrogate. The reminder of the cruel orders that he'd blindly followed left a twinge of guilt in his chest.

"Alright, so how did you meet this Variant of my brother? You said it had to do with the Avengers time traveling?"

Sylvie nodded at Mobius, and he sighed. "Alright, everyone have a seat. I'll start from the beginning."

"Wait, you were the fugitive Loki Variant?"

Sylvie spread her arms wide. "In the flesh," she smarmed, "but if you ever call me Loki I'll make you regret it. I'm Sylvie now, have been for longer than you've been alive."

"So that's how you are able to wield Loki's magic!"

Sylvie glowered. "Like I said before, it's my magic. But yes, it's quite similar to Loki's."

Mobius continued telling the story, with interjections from Sylvie for the parts he hadn't been there for and the explanation of her motives for freeing the timeline. She seemed particularly tense and distant when recounting what happened in the Citadel, and Mobius didn't push her for details. All that she or Loki had said was that they'd fought, and she'd kicked him through a Time Door into the past so that she could kill He Who Remains. Even so, it was abundantly clear to Mobius that the two of them cared about each other.

"And then came the problem with the Temporal Loom," he sighed.

"Sylvie, are you gonna explain your plan now? Ya kinda left me hanging when you disappeared off on your little side trip to fight aliens in New York with Thor and Love."

On hearing his daughter's name, Thor instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The gesture was endearing, but Mobius knew he'd done it on instinct, uncomfortable that Mobius knew her name without an introduction. Talking to TVA agents tended to have that effect on people.

"Right," Sylvie replied. "Like we just said, Loki sacrificed any life he could have had to go hold the branches of time together, and with them, he created a multiversal Yggdrasil. I opened a Time Door to its location," she glanced apologetically toward Mobius, "and after seeing and feeling its power, I'm almost certain that Loki’s Yggdrasil can sustain itself, just like an actual tree. I think Loki was just the catalyst, and he should be able to leave."

Mobius's thoughts began racing. If Sylvie was right and Loki really was able to leave, why hadn't he come back? He couldn't possibly want to sit there isolated from everything, could he? Or worse, what if he had returned to one of the timelines but let them all believe that he was still there, holding the branches? After all they'd been through together, it seemed unlikely. Still, unease pooled in his gut.

From the second Loki had disappeared through that portal, the vast majority of Mobius's thoughts had centered around how to get him back without risking the timelines. He'd never even stopped to consider the possibility that Loki wouldn't come back if given the opportunity.

He’d at least thought Loki would be doing everything he could to get back to Sylvie. It seemed like the majority of the time Mobius had spent with him had involved chasing after her for one reason or another. He’d spent years convincing himself he wasn’t bitter about it. The two of them deserved to be happy together if given the chance.

Breaking the contemplative silence that had descended on the group, Mobius voiced some of his thoughts. "If he's able to come back, why hasn't he?"

"It matters not. If what you say is true, we cannot let him remain there." Thor said resolutely. "If there's a chance I could see him again…" He trailed off, eyes glazed with emotion and distant memories.

Mobius looked toward Sylvie for her reaction. She was fidgeting with the cuff of her sleeve, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Finally, she looked up.

"I couldn't tell you why he hasn't come back, but I get the feeling it has to do with his mindset. Knowing Loki, he's probably convinced himself of something, and is too stubborn to see past it without someone calling bullshit."

Mobius nodded, and when he saw Thor doing the same he flashed the god a sad smile. Thor returned the gesture with a feeble one of his own. If anyone was as familiar with Loki's stubborn streak as Mobius, it was Thor. He'd spent years trying to convince Loki that his adoption and species didn't make him any less of an Odinson. It had taken Loki until his death on the Sacred Timeline to come around.

Love's small voice broke through the weight of emotions blanketing the room. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!"

The young girl's words spurred Thor into action. "Love is right, let us not waste any more time attempting to decipher Loki's motivations when we can go ask him ourselves." He stood up and summoned Mjolnir from the coffee table. Then he looked down at Love and shot a concerned glance toward Sylvie. "I swore to protect my daughter, and I do not wish to put her in any unforeseen danger." Love shot him an indignant glare. "Are you certain it's safe?"

Suddenly, Mobius remembered walking down the gangway with the Temporal Aura Extractor in the bulky TVA suit, terrified of losing his skin. The temporal radiation wasn't an issue now that the Loom was gone, but…

"Yeah, it's safe," Sylvie confirmed. "There's nothing there but the timelines and empty space."

"Uh guys," Mobius interjected. "I know you all have godly powers and physiology to keep you from immediately freezing into a popsicle when you're out in space, but my lack of powers and very human physiology won't do me any favors out there."

"Not to worry, I have space suits back on my ship, and you are welcome to use one," Thor responded easily. He looked pointedly at Sylvie. "Can you open one of those time travel doors to get us there?"

Back in New York, everyone boarded Thor's ship (which was still hovering above Central Park, right where they left it). Just before the hatch closed, Mobius caught a glimpse of Doctor Stephen Strange opening a cluster of portals to send the Procyonites and their uncharged ship somewhere far away.

Thor slid into the cockpit and took off, looking for a safe place to land. Love led Mobius and Sylvie to the collection of space suits, giving the pair an impromptu tour along the way.

"...And here are the space suits!" She explained happily while pointing at a compartment filled with sleek suits of varying bright colors. To Mobius's relief, they were nothing like the bulky temporal radiation suit at the TVA. "Uncle Thor insists on having them since he has mortal friends, including humans like Jane."

Mobius reached into the compartment, his fingers brushing against the green suit. Was that too on the nose?

When he looked up, Love was watching Mobius, her stormy blue eyes a little too assessing for comfort. "You love my Uncle Loki, don't you."

Mobius froze, his heart skipping a beat. "What?" He chuckled nervously, heat rising to his cheeks. He was intensely aware of Sylvie's gaze on him. "Of course I do, he's my friend."

Love tilted her head to the side. "Yeah, but it's more than that, right? Earlier, you were talking about Loki like Uncle Thor talks about Jane. It's different from how he talks about his dead friends and family."

Had this kid really figured out what Mobius had been repressing for years that easily?

"Sorry hun, but Loki and I are just friends."

He looked to Sylvie for backup, but she just flashed him a knowing look, the corner of her lip quirking slightly.

Chagrined, Mobius attempted to change the subject. "I'm gonna go check on Thor, see if I can help him find a landing spot." And with that, he grabbed the blue suit and headed toward the cockpit.

Within ten minutes they had found a grassy field in upstate New York to land and cloak the ship in. Mobius got into the suit and helmet, and Sylvie helped him with the gloves. After Mobius assured himself that there were no cracks or leaks, the four of them disembarked and stood around Sylvie's TemPad.

"Alright, I'm going to open a Time Door as close as I can get to the timelines. Once we're there, I'm going to try to use my magic to get us inside Loki's Yggdrasil. At the very least, that should get his attention." She paused, looking everyone in the eye. "Are we ready?"

Thor voiced his assent, and Mobius pushed all his anxious thoughts about Loki's motivations aside. He would find out the truth, and deal with the fallout later.

He took a deep breath. "We're ready."

-----

Notes:

Aaand we're back!!

I've been traveling with my family and didn't have access to my computer for over 3 weeks, but now that I'm back I'll be trying to update this story weekly :)

I hope you enjoyed Thor and Love's addition to the group! The reunion with Loki is FINALLY happening next chapter, so buckle up for all the feels ❤️

Side note: Procyonites are aliens from the Thor comics, described on Wikipedia as "a reptilian race with a large brown tortoise-like shell and brown scales, 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) in height on average."

taglist:

If you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist at any point, please leave a comment or send me a message :)

@loopsisloops @muddyorbsblr @superficialdomina @infinitystoner @unlucky-number-13

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Masterlist