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❛ ᴇᴡᴛʀᴛᴡ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ғʟʏɪɴɢ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ
ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ-ᴇᴀᴛᴇʀ ꒱


❝ JUST BECAUSE IT'S
BAD MEANS IT'S BAD ❞

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The sea of Lokis turned to greet her, their variations as similar and distinct as her own had been. Jesus Christ. One was bad enough. Speaking of which—

"Jimin!"

A part of her realized that this was the first time he'd used her real name, but most of her attention was taken by the collision of force as his arms wrapped around her. She stiffened at the touch, unused to the contact. Still, she could tell it was her version of Loki.

She didn't respond to the embrace and wiggled out of it as quickly as she could, instead choosing to glare angrily at him. "Do you know how much trouble I went through for you, you stupid ass? Good God this has been a trial and a half—"

The Asian woman continued to grumble about the inconvenience of trying to find him while the Asgardian could only stare at her in half amazement and half awe. He'd never been so happy to see someone that wasn't him.

"And now I've found more than enough Lokis to last me a lifetime. 주님 (Junim) [Lord] I don't get paid enough for this—"

"We don't get paid," the god interrupted her, though the faint smile indicated he didn't truly mind.

Before Jimin could say anything else, a prehistoric screech echoes through the room and Loki's eyes went to the bird. "What is that?"

"Oh," she said airily. "Me, but as a crane."

"Huh," he replied eloquently. "I'm an alligator."

The pair looked at each other for a moment. And then, for no distinct reason except because of the absurdity of it all, they burst out laughing. Jimin's was rusty and unused, the sound hoarse and rough. Loki's was smoother, more refined and to be expected from someone who was once— or perhaps still was— royalty.

"Perhaps we're owed an explanation," a male voice spoke up from the crowd. "Are you one of us?"

The brunette's laughter subsided as she faced the speaker (she wasn't impressed by his presidential accessories.) "Hell no," she answered vehemently. "That would be awful. I'm. . . an—"

"A friend," Loki finished.

She would have used acquaintance. "More importantly, can we go back to my first question? What the hell is going on here?"

She should've known better to ask that since she knew Loki was a visual explainer. An alligator— she assumed it was the one Loki had mentioned— jumped into action, most likely going back to his original activity, which was promptly biting the hand off President Loki.

The teen next to her watched the room with wide eyes as the warnings that came from Byong finally making sense as the crowd descended back into its original chaos.

Before they could get in harm's way, an older Loki summoned an emerald portal and disappeared through it with the younger version of the god carrying the alligator. Her teen self picked up the crane and followed them. Jimin and the original Loki exchanged a look before they took up the rear.

✧✧✧

The man in the gold horns cursed as the group emerged from the portal. ". . .we cut the throat of every person who trusts us and for what? Power. Glorious power. Glorious purpose!"

Jimin felt an inkling of respect— at least solely for the man leading the line. He didn't seem to be as pompous and arrogant as the Loki behind her. He looked older; perhaps age served him well.

"And whenever one of us dares try to fix themselves, they're sent here to die," the young Loki added.

"That sounds like a you problem," the teen girl put in, causing the boy to send her an irritated look.

"Who are you?"

"Jimin," she answered promptly. "You're not the only one equipped with survival, you know, or are you so blind as to be unable to see what's past the end of your nose that you thought only Lokis could survive?"

The boy huffed. "Alright, what's that?" he pointed to the crane.

"Me. She's me, too," the teen indicated the woman. "Like I said, you're not the only being left. Could you imagine how terrible that would be? A world of Lokis?"

"Excuse—"

"You could barely be in a room with yourself before you went on a killing spree," the girl cut him off. "Tell me that a world full of the same type of person would do well."

"We're broken. All of us, forever," the older Loki carried on morosely, ignoring the teens' argument.

"That's why I— we— need to get out of here," Loki insisted. "To take down the T.V.A.."

"Nothing can change until the T.V.A. is stopped," Jimin agreed.

"And you trust her? This other version of us?"

"She's the only one I do trust," the god said, "and right now, I believe she's our only chance of stopping the T.V.A.."

"That's good enough for me," the younger Loki spoke up, breaking off his disagreement with his counterpart (they'd stepped away from the group so that teen-Jimin could insist she was better at surviving than him. He, of course, believed the opposite.)

"Okay, okay. We'll help you," the eldest member sighed, "but approaching Alioth is a death sentence. We'll get you to it, but that's as far as we'll go."

✧✧✧

"No, having an alligator as an animal counterpart is stupid—"

The Asian woman sighed as the teens continued to bicker, though she supposed that was the nature of a Jimin and a Loki. Thankfully, the version she'd deemed "Wise Loki" spoke again, drowning out their arguments: "I have to say, it feels odd walking toward the gargantuan creature. Do you have a plan of action?"

"Yes, and it isn't just take action," Loki said, referencing Jimin's earlier words. "Get inside, find its heart or brain or whatever, and you know, do it in."

"That makes it sound easy," the agent remarked sarcastically and the god sent her an irritated look.

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

"No, just because it's bad means its bad," Jimin corrected him.

At their feet, the alligator growled while the crane let out an answering screech. Loki took that to mean agreement. "See? He's on board."

"And I just pointed out how stupid it was."

"He's praying," Wise Loki explained. "He thinks we're going to die."

"And she was telling to shut up since there's no god to listen," teen-Jimin added.

They stopped at the crest of the hill that overlooked a valley. Broken ground stretched out before them that rose up to meet another mountain that stretched into the sky, almost touching the clouds that blocked the sun. In front of them, a golden light appeared with an electric crackle as a massive warship landed heavily on the marred ground. Its crew scrambled for order at the unfamiliar terrain, completely oblivious to the dark purple smoke that seemed to wake at the sight of what it considered food.

"Alioth is like any animal," Loki told them quietly as the cloud began to expand. "He'll go after the big meal first and while he's busy with that, we can sneak around the back and. . ."

The being let out a monstrous roar, the neon light inside flickering madly as it approached the ship. Dark purple fingers shot out from the body and wove their way onto the deck, searching for prey as the sailors tried to fight it off, firing the massive guns at the unknown enemy. As the tendrils reached the men the sailors began to run but none of them were fast enough and the cloud made quick work of them. It retreated back into the sky leaving only the ship behind.

"Okay," the Asgardian started slowly. "Maybe we, uh—"

"Get a better plan?" Jimin supplied with a faint smirk. All three Jimins looked rather smug (somehow, even the crane pulled that off.)

"Car," the boy said suddenly as he turned.

"What?"

"Along the horizon."

"Is that bad?" Loki asked.

"Well, usually it means cannibalistic marauders," the younger Loki offered. "Or cannibalistic pirates."

"Delightful." There was a pause as they watched the vehicle approach.

"They're slowing down," the girl observed.

"What are they doing?"

"Just stay on your guard," the younger god advised.

The car stopped and the driver inside turned off the lights. As the doors opened, the original Jimin and Loki recognized the occupants. "Sylvie! Mobius!"

Relieved to see someone that wasn't them, they both took off down the hill to greet the newcomers. Their variants followed more slowly behind them.

"You're alive," the blonde woman said as they neared.

"What are you two doing here?" Jimin asked.

"We thought you could do with some backup," the woman answered mildly.

As the remaining group came closer, Sylvie turned to face them and Loki held out his hands. "Oh, no— wait, wait, wait. These are my friends. Well, they're um. . . how best to put this?"

"They're us," the agent explained bluntly.

"Yes," the god agreed, "us as a child, us— me in the future, us as animals. It's best not to question it," he added at Sylvie's bemused look.

"You throw a rock out here, you hit a Loki— or a Jimin," Mobius remarked lightly.

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

"You mean the flying purple people-eater?" the girl clarified, pointing to the cloud. "Unfortunately."

"Well, we haven't decided how we're going to kill it, but—" Loki corrected her.

"Come again? Kill it?"

"Yes, we're gonna kill Alioth."

"Unfortunately," Jimin repeated.

"Oh my God. That was your plan?" Sylvie exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"And you went along with it?" she addressed their counterparts.

"No way," the female teen denied.

"I had my doubts," the boy added, before he ducked from the swat the girl sent his way for the lie.

"Probably unsafe," Wise Loki put in.

"Told you," Jimin said smugly.

"Alright, well, what's your plan, then?"

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

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

"I'm going to enchant it."

The god chuckled and she rolled her eyes as he asked, "that's insane, right?"

"As insane as what?" Jimin's tone was incredulous. "Going inside a murderous cloud—"

"Flying purple people-eater—"

"—And trying to find a non-existent heart? That was a terrible plan."

"I don't see you coming up with anything," he shot back.

"I thought you'd like an opportunity to take charge," the Asian woman retorted. "Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Why you—"

"I'm going to enchant it," Sylvie repeated, her voice loud above the beginning of their next fight.

"She's pretty confident," Mobius said supportively.

The agent crossed her arms while Loki put his hands on his waist, neither looking particularly thrilled.