"What do you mean you're me?" Olivia asked, the winged woman pulling her to her feet.

"We're all pruned Variants of you. All arrested by the TVA for Nexus events we unknowingly caused. Dumped here to live out the rest of our days with the other pruned entities and timelines. We need to go quickly, else Alioth will come for us." The winged woman replied.

"Alioth?"

"That."

Olivia's gaze was directed to the large mass of purple smoke in the air... with a face.

"We have to go. There's a bunker we share." The little girl said, taking Olivia's hand.

"With who?"

"A few other Lokis. I'm sure you're familiar."

"Very. I'll come along, but I can ask questions." Olivia said.

"Of course." The woman with the moon shaped helm replied.

So, the trek began. Over dead grass, crumbling buildings, and artifacts that were covered in dirt and vines. There were also large piles of lunch trays scattered around. Olivia pursed her lips, realizing that they were TVA lunch trays. They must prune all their garbage, she thought.

"So, do you all have the same name?"

"She and I do." The winged Variant said, pointing to the little girl. She then gestured to the other woman. "She, on the other hand."

"My name is Sigyn."

"That's the name Frigga wanted for me when I was born. Was that your Nexus event? Being given the wrong name?"

"Not exactly. Nexus events only occur when something would inhibit the timeline from proceeding correctly. Being given a different name wouldn't cause that much of a problem." Sigyn bit her lip. "My problem was... well..."

"She was pruned for being too much of a doormat." Kid Olivia snorted.

"Olivia!" The winged Variant scolded.

"No, she's right. The TVA apparently thought I was too meek for the timeline. Being kind wasn't the problem; that's a trait we all share. But, well... I guess Loki bossed me around one too many times. We had an argument, he screamed at me, I ran away. Next I knew the TVA arrived and I was pruned." Sigyn sighed. "My time spent here in the Void reduced some of that complacency and the other Lokis treat me better."

"Most Lokis are good to us. There's that innate sense of wanting to protect and love us that they share. They far outnumber us because they're pruned more often, but the reason most of us have survived this long is partly because they protect us." The Winged Variant added.

"Not that we need it." Kid Olivia said shortly. The dragon on her shoulder croaked in response, ruffling its wings. "See, she agrees."

"See, now that Variant of you caused a problem the second she hatched."

"Hang on, the dragon is another me?" Olivia said in disbelief.

"Your soul was born into a dragon by accident. I've nurtured her since she got here." Kid Olivia said. "Similar to that winged version of you. She was born a Valkyrie. She started her Dream Goddess training, but I guess the TVA thought she was too powerful for the Sacred Timeline to handle."

"I guess I should have guessed that from the start. My spirit plane wings look like that." Olivia turned to the child version of her. "So what was your Nexus event?"

"Our parents didn't leave me with Frigga during the war. They left me with the neighbor. I was orphaned with the wrong woman watching over me and that was something the TVA couldn't course correct. So, they pruned me, too."

"As a baby?"

"Renslayer used some fancy tech to age me up enough so I could hold my own here. That little empathy in her made that happen so she wouldn't send a baby here with Alioth. He makes sure nothing ever leaves this place and... makes room for the new arrivals. But Renslayer's the only one at the TVA who knows about this place."

"I never trusted her in the first place."

"Only a fool would trust Renslayer."

They walked in relative silence for a moment, the only sound being the whipping wind around them. Sigyn chose to break the silence.

"So, what was your Nexus event?" She asked. Olivia bit her lip.

"Loki and I stole the Tesseract when we weren't supposed to." She said shortly. The little dragon gave a short hiss.

"She thinks your lying." Kid Olivia said.

"Well... okay, so... we did do that, but... I also chose to help Loki with his conquest." Olivia said, choosing to rip the bandaid off.

"Ah. Well, we're not going to fault you for that. It happens more often than you'd think. Besides, you find shame in your actions." Valkyrie Olivia said, shrugging. "You've learned from them."

"That's... not always the case." Sigyn replied quietly.

"About half of your Variants that are here made the same choice. Only a few of them feel regret. The ones that don't have some kind of mental variation that kicks in when Loki first asks them to join him. They turn wicked at the drop of a hat. If the Sacred Timeline wasn't so strongly held together, about half of the timelines would make us a villain. We're a peculiar being that way."

Olivia pursed her lips, digesting this.

"The most dangerous Variants like that are the ones that had the Avengers Anomaly." Kid Olivia said.

"What's that?"

"When the Avengers go back in time to get the Stones to their time, they often get trapped in a Branch. That point in time branches often because of the single choice we make or don't. The only reason the branches never hit the Red Line is because the Avengers' presence negates the branching seeing as they have to go back there. It's very confusing, but that often means winning branches progress further than they should."

"The two factors that produce a dangerous Olivia like that are the Avengers Anomaly and the branch being a branch where Loki would succeed with us." Valkyrie Olivia added.

"Last we saw, only two of these Variants exist here. There's the First Lady and the Queen." Sigyn continued.

"The First Lady is the Variant of you paired with President Loki. They come from a branch where they chose a presidential angle for their global rule. Like Asgardian Peróns. She serves as both a Vice President and a First Lady, in theory at least."

"And then the Queen is similar. The only difference is that it was just bringing the Asgardian Monarchy to Midgard."

"The point is when we're evil, we're very dangerous." Kid Olivia summed up. "We're almost there."

"That's... a lot of information to take in." Olivia gulped as they crested over a small hill. A small, round bunker entrance greeted them with Hindi words written on the top. Valkyrie Olivia knocked on it in a specific pattern before twisting the wheel on top so the door opened.

"After you." She said to Olivia. The Goddess nodded before climbing down the ladder in the thin tube. Wires poked out from the roof and grime covered nearly everything. The bunker itself was a really cluttered and dirty bowling alley. Why the TVA would prune a whole bowling alley Olivia would never understand. She examined the bar as her other Variants followed her down.

Olivia heard voices from the larger room behind her. She turned and spotted four figures and... an alligator? One was a dark haired adolescent sitting on a mall Santa throne atop a hill of bowling pins. Another wore thick furs and carried a hammer made of machine parts. Yet another wore yellow and green tights with a yellow cape and a helmet with ridiculously curved horns. The last one...

Loki.

Her Loki.

Olivia gently slid down the ramp on her feet towards the small group, catching their conversation.

"...To tell you the truth, I missed my brother and I wondered if he missed me. If anyone did. But as soon as I took my first steps to getting off that planet, the TVA arrived." The older Variant was saying.

"Loki!" Olivia cried. All four men looked up at her, surprised. Olivia ran for her Loki and pulled him into a tight hug. "I didn't realized you had been pruned, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Renslayer pruned me right after you. Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, another Olivia Variant. The one thing we have in the world that keeps us sane." The older Variant said, looking Olivia up and down.

"And you're all Lokis, I assume? Even the alligator?" She replied. The alligator gave a short growl of acknowledgement. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Me from the future, me as a child, me as an alligator, and--"

"A Loki who won't shut up about his exploits that may or may not be real." Old Loki snorted.

"They are absolutely real!" The apparently Boastful Loki protested.

"I see. Anyways, we have me as a child, me as a Valkyrie, me as a dragon, and me with Sigyn as my name." Olivia pointed to each of her Variants respectively.

"Wasn't that the name my mother wanted for you?" Loki asked. "It's a lovely name."

"Thank you." Sigyn replied.

"We have wine if you ladies would like some." Boastful Loki offered, holding up a dripping green box of wine.

"Olivia!" Kid Loki called, tossing a juice box to Kid Olivia. She caught it in her hands, poking the straw through the hole. The other Lokis pulled up assorted chairs (ranging from a torn recliner to a plastic chair from a school classroom) and shifted around to find the best chair for themselves.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence that hung over the group like the thick fog outside. No talk of Nexus events or the Void around them. Olivia sipped the store brand wine in the small glass she had been given, observing her dragon self fighting over a piece of raw meat with the Loki Gator. Her thoughts wandered back to the events of a few hours ago. She wondered if Mobius was somewhere in the Void, hiding out like the rest of them.

What about Sylvie? For all she knew, she was either stuck at the TVA or had been pruned by Renslayer as well. She was a fighter, so Olivia had assumed the former. She downed the rest of her glass and stood up.

"So are we just going to sit here and do nothing?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Kid Loki asked.

"Are we really just going to wait down here for the rest of time? If Alioth lives, it can theoretically be killed."

"She's right. We have to get back to the TVA. It can't be allowed to continue doing what it does. Pruning us because we don't follow their blueprints."

"Why does it matter? Do you have something waiting back there?" Old Loki asked, bored.

"Have you ever met a Variant of us that was born a woman?" Loki asked.

"Sounds terrifying."

"She is, and she needs us. We have to get out of this place. That means killing Alioth. We could use all the help we can get. Are you with us?"

The other Variants looked amongst each other before all the Lokis burst out laughing. Olivia's Variants either gave sympathetic looks or laughed along with the Lokis (namely Kid Olivia).

"We mean no offense, but that's suicide. Nothing gets past Alioth." Sigyn replied.

"Many have tried, all have failed." Old Loki added, wiping his eyes.

"We all made wrong choices, but we're not stupid." Kid Olivia said. Olivia sighed and threw up her hands. She walked away from the bunch and started to ascend the ladder. Some fresh air would do her good. Loki followed behind her, though he didn't climb after her. Olivia opened the hatch and took in a breath of air.

When she opened her eyes, she nearly fell back down the ladder.

A large posse of Variants encircled the entrance, most notably the four in front. Two Lokis and two Olivias. One Loki was dressed in his full battle armor from New York. The Olivia next to him wore dark colored armor, a purple sash, arm and leg armor, a short Spartan skirt, and a circlet oddly similar to Sylvie's with one broken horn.

The other Loki was dressed in a torn three piece suit with a horned headpiece and a smudged button reading "LOKI FOR PRESIDENT" in big bold letters. The accompanying Olivia wore an identical button and a blazer in the same colors as Loki's whole suit.

Olivia let out a short gasp, Loki coming up beside her.

"What is it? What's the matt--"

"Ah, hello. Which one of us are you?" The President version of Loki asked.

"This is a nightmare." Loki gulped.

***

The entire crowd was gathered inside of the bunker, Loki and Olivia standing off to the side to avoid the situation.

"You bastard! You led the wolves right to our door!" Old Loki growled at Boastful Loki.

"We prefer 'snakes' to 'wolves.'" President Loki smirked.

"I'd eat them both, they die just the same." Kid Loki said, taking a step forward.

"Apologies, my liege." Boastful Loki said, holding Kid Loki back. "I betrayed you, and now I'm king."

"About that..." First Lady Olivia said, gesturing for the other Variants with a snap of her fingers. They pointed their weapons at the six figures in front of them

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, come on. What did you expect?" President Loki asked.

"That was not the bargain! I gave you our location, and in exchange for shelter and supplies, you give me your army and I take the throne."

"It's not much of an army..." Sigyn whispered.

"Shut up, Sigyn." Queen Olivia snapped.

"Ah, yes. Not so good of a bargain." President Loki continued. "How about this one? Our army. Our throne."

"About that..." King Loki sneered, snapping his own fingers so the soldiers turned on President Loki and First Lady Olivia.

"Why you beef witted, half faced scrubs! We had a deal!" President Loki snarled. Loki and Olivia glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Too many cooks in the kitchen." Loki whispered.

"Too many Lokis in the Void." Olivia agreed.

"Why the hell is there an alligator in here?" President Loki asked.

"He's a Loki!" Kid Loki, Kid Olivia, Sigyn, Old Loki, and Valkyrie Olivia screamed at the same time. Alligator Loki hissed before leaping up and snatching President Loki's hand in his mouth. First Lady Olivia ripped the alligator off, only for President Loki's hand to go with it. He let out a shrill scream as chaos erupted.

Lokis went flying everywhere, the two opposing Olivias tustling with each other in the corner. Kid Loki picked up the Loki alligator and joined with the others to fight their way through the ruckus.

"What do we do?" Olivia asked as she and Loki rejoined with the others.

"I will stay here and stave off the attack. The rest of you leave and run far away." Valkyrie Olivia said, summoning a Dragonfang sword. That just left Sigyn, Kid Olivia, Dragon Olivia, Old Loki, Kid Loki, and Alligator Loki of the Variants. Old Loki produced illusions of all of them as they escaped through a small portal he produced.

They appeared in a barren field a long distance away.

"Argh! Animals, animals!" Old Loki cried as the portal closed behind them. "We lie and we cheat. We cut the throats of nearly every person who trusts us and for what? Power, glorious power. Glorious purpose! We never change. We're broken, every one of us. Forever."

"And whenever one of us dares try to fix themselves, they're sent here to die!" Kid Loki cried.

"Well, you're not all bad. You have us and we stay with you." Sigyn piped up.

"Yes, but here there are only so many of you. And even less good versions of you. You saw how it went back there! You're such a volatile being. It gets to the point where when a version of you goes bad, they go really bad because the Sacred Timeline forces you to bottle those tendencies up until they burst!" Old Loki countered.

"That's why we need to get out of here!" Loki said. "Nothing can change until the TVA is stopped."

"And you trust her? This woman Variant of us?"

"I would trust her with my life." Olivia replied.

"She's likely our only chance at stopping the TVA." Loki added.

"That's good enough for me." Kid Loki said.

"Okay, we'll help you. But approaching Alioth is a death sentence! We'll get you to it, but that's as far as we go." Old Loki said, resigned to his fate.

Another long walk was in order, new debris being discovered and falling out of the sky on occasion. Kid Loki pulled out a large device from his backpack and started fiddling with switches.

"I have to say, it feels odd walking towards the gargantuan creature." Sigyn said softly. "Do we have a plan?"

"Get inside, find its heart or brain or whatever, and then, you know... do it in." Loki replied.

"Well..." Kid Olivia started.

"Just because it's complicated doesn't mean it's bad."

"It also doesn't mean it's good."

Gator Loki gave a short hiss in response.

"See? He's on board." Loki said.

"He's praying. He thinks we're going to die." Old Loki said flatly. Kid Loki pressed a few buttons and flipped a switch. In the distance over the ridge, a large war ship emerged, USS Eldridge written on the side. The crew members started running around as the dark cloud of Alioth crested over another hill.

"Alioth is like any animal. He'll go after the big meal first, and while he's busy with that, we sneak around the back--"

Loki couldn't even finish his sentence before black tendrils of smoke started attacking the ship. The crewmates tried to fire back, but the entire ship was practically swallowed whole as fast as it had first appeared.

The entire group stared blankly ahead at the spot where the ship had just stood.

"Okay... well, maybe we... ah... think a bit more about this, huh?" Loki said, putting his hands on his hips nervously.

"Car." Olivia said, looking behind them. Sure enough, a battered old car with a large pizza springing on the roof rolled towards the group at a lazy pace.

"Is that bad?" Loki asked.

"Well, usually that means cannibalistic marauders or cannibalistic pirates." Kid Olivia replied flatly.

"Lovely." Olivia replied. "Wait, now they're slowing down?"

"What are they doing?" Old Loki asked.

"Just stay on guard." Kid Loki replied. The passenger side door of the car opened and revealed a person. A familiar person, at that.

"Sylvie!" Olivia said, rushing over to the Variant. Loki ran after her, begging her to slow down. Once Olivia reached Sylvie, the Variant barely had time to get a word out before Olivia pulled her into a crushing hug.

"You're alive." Sylvie said, unsure of the physical contact.

"What happened, are you okay?" Olivia asked, pulling away. Another person walked up next to Sylvie wearing his usual dopey grin.

"Mobius!" Loki said, relieved that the Analyst was alive. "How did you...?"

"We thought you could use some backup." Sylvie said. The rest of the group arrived to where the reunion was happening. Sylvie went for them, unsure if they were hostile, but Olivia held her back.

"Wait, it's okay. These are... well... they're um... Me as a child, me as another Goddess, and me as an uh... as a dragon." Olivia pointed to each of her Variants respectively.

"Then there's us as a child, us in the future and us as an... as an alligator. Best not to question it." Loki said, pointing to his and Sylvie's Variants.

"You throw a rock out here and you hit a Loki or Olivia." Mobius quipped.

"So you're all after the giant cloud monster, too then?" Sylvie asked.

"Well, we haven't decided how we're going to kill it yet, but--" Loki started.

"Sorry, come again? Kill it?"

"Yes, we're going to kill Alioth."

"Oh my God, that was your plan." Sylvie replied with heavy sarcasm. She turned to the others in the group. "And you all went along with it."

"I was... I was having my doubts." Kid Loki defended.

"Pretty unsafe." Sigyn said.

"All right, well, what's your plan, then?" Olivia asked.

"I think the person we're after is beyond the Void at the end of time. And if they are, then that thing is just their guard dog protecting the only way in."

"Okay, so how do we get past the guard dog?"

"I'm going to enchant it."

Loki let out a loud snort, only to stop at Sylvie's dead serious expression.

"That's insane, right?" He asked.

"As insane as what? Paper-cutting a giant cloud to death?"

"Listen, we've been down here longer than you have--"

"I'm going to enchant it." Sylvie held her innocent expression with her hands clasped in front of her like a child with her parent defending her actions. That parent happened to be Mobius.

"She's pretty confident." He said. Loki just looked at the Analyst with a betrayed expression, making Olivia snort.

***

The now even larger group gathered inside a small, crumbling building to stay protected from Alioth above. They caught one of the weird headless birds cluttering around the Void to roast on a spit as some sort of food. All but three figures conversed inside, Loki, Olivia, and Sylvie sitting on the slope of the hill out front.

"Mobius isn't so bad." Sylvie remarked.

"Or so good. I think that's why we get along." Loki replied.

"He cares about you. The both of you."

A gust of wind blew in, rustling the grass and blowing all of their hair around. Olivia shivered, clutching her arms.

"It's cold." She said, a small smile on her face. Loki smiled and summoned a green and gold blanket around both of their shoulders. She snuggled into it, resting her head on his shoulder. Olivia turned to look at Sylvie. "I could conjure one for you, too."

"Tell you what, you could conjure me a new outfit." Sylvie said, pulling at the turtleneck collar around her neck. "You have no idea how uncomfortable something like this is."

Another short silence emerged before Olivia took her head off of Loki's shoulder to look at Sylvie.

"So, Mobius... and his theory about..." She said.

"The Nexus event? Right, right. Total rubbish, right?" Sylvie replied, scoffing.

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's not like being shown affection actually caused such an imbalance of the timeline."

"I mean, that's not to say it wasn't a nice moment..."

"No, it was great, really nice."

"It just sounds like another TVA lie."

"A hundred percent, totally." Olivia said, biting the inside of her cheek, her cheeks going pink much like Sylvie's. Loki just grinned at the two women's obliviousness, something that they were also oblivious to.

"I don't know how to do this." Sylvie whispered.

"I don't even know what we're doing." Olivia replied, fiddling with a loose thread of the blanket.

"I don't have... friends. Or anyone, for that matter."

"Well, you know, there are more important things."

"Right, like bringing down the TVA."

"Saving the universe, even."

"Well, there's no need to be dramatic, but yeah, kind of!"

Another lull of silence. Olivia turned back to Loki as Sylvie rested her arms and chin on her knees. Loki just inclined his head once towards Sylvie with a warm smile. Olivia took the hint and moved her hand. The blanket disappeared from around her shoulder and reappeared around Sylvie's, wrapping all of them in the blanket tightly. Sylvie looked at Olivia, now even more pink. The Goddess just smiled back, Sylvie wrapping the end tightly around herself. She didn't really get cold; she was a Loki after all, and Lokis were Frost Giants.

It was more about wanting to hold onto the gesture.

"It's not very snuggly." She commented.

"Okay." Loki chuckled.

"Is it a tablecloth?"

"No, it's a blanket." Sylvie turned to the pair and pursed her lips for a moment.

"Thank you." She said, the phrase new on her tongue.

"Of course." Olivia replied, smiling at Sylvie. Another long pause in the conversation, the whipping wind still biting at their faces.

"How do I know that in the final moments, you won't betray me?" Sylvie asked. She sounded like a little girl who had been hurt one too many times. Olivia could barely hold back a sympathetic hug, knowing it would be a little out of place.

"Listen, Sylvie, I... I've betrayed nearly everyone who's ever loved me. My mother, my brother, my home... I know what I did and I know why I did it. And that's not who I am anymore. Okay? I won't let you down."

"You sure? Because 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 truly happy." Loki said, though Olivia could detect the faintest amount of sarcasm in his tone.

"What about you? What will you do when this is all over?" Olivia asked Sylvie.

"I don't know."

"I don't know either." Loki said. Olivia smiled at Sylvie.

"Maybe... we could figure it out together?" She asked.

"Maybe." Sylvie replied, returning the smile.

***

Not long later, the entire group stood atop a hill overlooking Alioth. Part of the cloud hung over a distant field, striking purple lightning on the ground. A large ship sat in the dirt, probably many years old. The wind blew nearly everything around.

"Okay, so what's the next move?" Mobius called over the noise.

"The TVA needs to be brought down. We don't know who created it or where they are, but that thing out there does. When it hit me earlier, I linked to it. It was brief, but I caught a glimpse of something and I think if I can get close enough to it, I can enchant it and it's going to take me to whoever is behind all of this." Sylvie pulled out a TemPad from her belt and passed it to Loki. He took it, realizing it was Sylvie giving them a way out. He glanced at Olivia, who gave a slight shake of her head.

"We're staying." She said boldly.

"Olivia, I don't even know if this is going to work." Sylvie protested.

"You go, we go." Loki assured her, passing the device to Mobius, who pressed a few buttons. A signal on Kid Loki's own device beeped loudly.

"It's happening. The branch will be right out there." He said, pointing out into the field.

"I'll give your regards to Renslayer." Mobius said.

"Oh, please do." Sylvie said.

"You guys want a ticket out of here?" Mobius turned to the other Variants.

"What? No. We're staying here." Kid Loki replied.

"This is our home." Sigyn added. Gator Loki and Dragon Olivia gave small snorts of agreement.

"Are you sure?" What about Alioth?" Olivia asked.

"We've survived this long. We know what we're doing." Old Loki said.

"Loki, you'll need this on your journey. Go on." Kid Loki summoned a golden sword out of thin air and passed it to Loki. He took it graciously, summoning a back scabbard to hold it in.

"I wish I had something for you, but a dragon's the best weapon I have." Kid Olivia said.

"That's all right. As long as you're safe, it's fine. I can hold my own." Olivia replied. The dragon purred, landing on Olivia's shoulder and rubbing her head against Olivia's chin. She chuckled, sending it back to her child self.

"Good luck." Sigyn said kindly. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

Loki gave the woman a nod of acknowledgement before all the remaining Variants departed with final waves goodbye. Mobius opened a Time Door close by and approached Loki and Olivia with a friendly smile.

"Looks like you got away in the end." He said.

"I always do." Loki replied with a grin.

"What will you do? At the TVA?" Olivia asked the Analyst. Mobius just chuckled.

"Burn it to the ground." He replied cheekily. "Thanks for the spark. Well, see you later, guys."

Mobius held out his hand for a simple handshake. Loki looked at it for a moment before shaking his head. He instead moved forward and wrapped Mobius in a large hug. It was uncertain if they would ever see each other again, so Loki wanted to make it count.

"Thank you, my friend." He said. Loki turned to Olivia for a moment before outstretching his arm in a gesture of invitation. She joined in the hug with a smile, also wanting to give a last goodbye to the Analyst who had become her friend.

"You're my favorite." Mobius whispered.

It was unclear who he meant this for. Loki, Olivia, or maybe even Sylvie. Only Mobius knew.

They all separated from the hug as Mobius gave a last wave. He then passed through the Time Door, the golden space shutting behind him.

The final walk towards the location ensued, all three of them getting more and more apprehensive the closer they got. The wind blew stronger and the lightning struck louder.

"When a branch appears, Alioth will focus on it. That's when I'll enchant it." Sylvie relayed the plan to her companions. No sooner had she said this that the cloud's face emerged, spotting them. It sunk back inside, touching down on the ground and barreling towards them. The face re-emerged, shrieking louder than the rolling thunder.

"What if we don't have time to wait for a branch?" Loki asked.

"We'll have to cause a distraction." Sylvie answered. Loki rested a hand on her shoulder, the Variant looking back at him. She shook her head, Loki and Olivia nodding in response.

Then, they bolted.

Loki and Olivia ran to the left, a long distance from Sylvie to give her room. Loki ripped the blade out of its scabbard and pointed it at the monster, flames igniting along the sharp edge.

"Come and get me!!" He cried, waving the sword around like a beacon. Olivia started throwing blasts of green energy at the cloud to further attempt to distract it. Nearby, Sylvie started her attempt at enchanting the beast, her hands glowing green and strain on her features. Alioth's face suddenly turned away from the distracting Asgardians and back to Sylvie. "No! This way!"

Alioth was barely feet away from a terrified Sylvie. It opened it's glowing purple maw to swallow her whole. Loki and Olivia could only watch.

A bright green light shone from their left, claiming the cloud monster's attention. Loki and Olivia stopped dead in their tracks mere feet from Sylvie as a structure started to form. It looked familiar until they realized that it was a recreation of Asgard. Their home.

Right in the middle of it stood Old Loki and Sigyn, using their own magic to construct the intricate structure of Asgard back to back. Every detail accounted for, from the Palace to the street lights lining the roads.

"How are they doing that?" Sylvie asked.

"I think we're stronger than we realize." Olivia replied, genuinely amazed. Old Loki had seemed so frail, Sigyn so meek. Yet here they were, constructing an exact representation of Asgard as a last ditch attempt to send them on.

"Go!" Sigyn cried after them. The message was clear enough. The trio had to keep going, they would hold Alioth off. Sylvie took both Loki and Olivia's hands, one lone tendril of Alioth nearby.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked her.

"We're going to enchant it. Olivia, get between us." Sylvie said. Olivia shifted around uncertainly, grabbing both the hands of Loki and Sylvie as if she were linking them.

"I don't know how!"

"You do! Because we're the same."

"But I'm not a Loki." Olivia protested.

"You think like one! And... and you love them. That's just as important." Sylvie smiled at the woman, Olivia returning the expression. Sylvie grabbed one end of the smokey tendril with her glowing hand, Loki taking the other. He and Olivia both concentrated hard, thinking about what Sylvie had said about enchantment earlier.

Alioth roared nearby as he continued to phase through the grand illusion of Asgard. Whatever he broke, Sigyn and Old Loki were there to fix. That is, until the illusion started to descend downward. It was a lot of work, the pair starting to tire from the strain.

Olivia noticed this, gripping onto Loki and Sylvie's hands tighter. The circut seemed to complete itself, all of their hands now glowing bright green. It was working. Just a little more...

Alioth broke through the last of the illusion, Old Loki and Sigyn slumping over from the strain. Both of them seemed a thousand years older, yet just as powerful all the same. Sigyn pulled Old Loki to his feet as Alioth turned to face them. The pair stood their ground, raising their arms as a last hurrah with the faintest of magic sparkling at their fingertips.

"Glorious purpose!" Old Loki cried with a joyous laugh. Sigyn shared it before the two of them were consumed by the cloud. All that remained were their helmets, both pieces of gold headwear clattering to the ground on top of each other.

Alioth then turned to its last target.

Loki, Sylvie, and Olivia all concentrated all their willpower into the enchantment, shutting their eyes to block out all other distractions.

Just as Alioth was about to consume them whole, a massive surge of magic shot through them. A spell the likes of which none of them had ever cast. The world suddenly turned quiet, the wind dying down if only a little.

"Open your eyes." Sylvie said. Loki and Olivia both hesitantly opened their eyes, only to be met with a truly beautiful sight. Alioth's cloud had turned from dark purple to bright green. It lit up the surrounding area in a pure emerald glow. In front of them, the cloud parted to reveal a space-like void beyond. Atop a hill, a large castle-like house rested with an orange glow atop the highest tower.

That was it.

Whoever controlled the TVA was in there.

Sylvie looked to her companions eagerly. Loki gave a nod, Olivia a simple smile.

Not letting go of each other's hands, they started towards the house and to whoever resided inside. They would end this.

Once and for all.