My senses were atrophied, under my fingers I could feel the hard and cold ground, it was not unpleasant, but it was uncomfortable. For a second, I believed that I was going to be greeted by the Valhalla guardians, that my family was going to be together to celebrate and rest. I was naive, I opened my eyes, I took the time to lose my body and get back on my feet.
I realized that I was at the foot of a large mansion. The doors appeared to have a gothic style of black marble, with cracks that looked like wild brushstrokes of gold. The doors opened of their own accord, the squeak of the hinges echoing down the hall made my ears ache.
A person in their right mind would not enter, and I did not, in fact I turned around and tried to walk towards the pile of clouds, passing some boulders that floated among the stars. Surrounding the mansion, I remember seeing a large shiny tube, slowly splitting into branches, it sounded like as it was breaking.
- Tesseract! Honey, over here! - the clock, that damn fucking clock, called me out from a distance by that horrible name. Out of simple decency I approached the doors again, - Hello, what do you want? - She smiled, and she indicated me to come in with a hand gesture, - He’s waiting for you - I suppose my confused face, and lack of obedience, led her to explain herself better.
- Welcome to The Citadel, at the end of time, he assumed it would be better to save you the trouble of actually face the void to get here – she had this little tone, - You know, not to be rude or anything, but I like you better running around and tearing into pieces – she frowned and placed her hands on her “curves”? Let's say hips, although she really didn’t have any.
- Let’s waste no more time, he’s waiting – coming from her time is surely just her, - And who is this mysterious host? - I spoke walking at a considerable distance of her, hearing the doors closing behind me, - “He who remains” - she said ever so proud, and sketchy. - I guess you don’t believe in names – she giggled, while I wondered if she was real or a hologram with an AI.
- He created all, and controls all, in the end is “He who remains” - clever word play, I had to give her that, but it didn’t stop being creepy as fuck.
- Uhm, ma’am, why am I not dead? - she giggled again, there was no measure for how much I wanted to tear her apart, screw by screw, she had a way to crawl under my skin very quickly. - He will answer to your questions, for now, get in and go up, sky high – elevator doors opened a few steps away from me, and she disappeared.
- Fuck no... but it can’t get worse – it took me a second to actually hop inside, the buttons pressed themselves, and as soon as the doors closed, it started to move upwards.
A green glow disintegrated the beige cardigan I was wearing from the TVA, making my armor reappeared on my body instead. As if it had never been through the battle with Thor, since it didn’t have a single scratch or missing pieces. My hands were suddenly covered by leather gloves that reached up to my elbows and fitted my fingers perfectly.
I was absolutely creeped out, but also somewhat grateful.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, there was a man waiting for me, with dark skin and fine purple clothes. He looked happy, if not excited, my confusion was so great that I didn't even move from my place, but I felt myself flinch when his eyes met mine.
- Wow, this is, I mean is ... absolutely mythic, right? - I knew I was visibly pouting, that was my line!
- You must be “He who remains”, thanks for the wardrobe change – he smiled even wider, - I’m glad you like it, I have been waiting forever to meet you! - he started walking down another hall, it seemed that every single wall and sculpture in the mansion was made out of the same material as the outside.
- Been here alone a while, huh? - I noticed the ridiculous amount of dust, the debris, the lack of heat in the air, he was all alone in that huge place. - Well, yes, but it has its perks – he opened the door of a study for me, making himself aside to allow me to enter first. - Perks, like which ones? - he ran a bit towards a desk, taking a few pages out and placing them in front of me, over the wood.
- Like she said, I see all, and I know all – I looked over the pages, it had scripted everything I literally said in the TVA a couple hours ago. With horror I backed up, a cold chill crawling down my spine, causing me to look up to him, - This... you have something like this for every being in the universe? - he nodded, giggling and sitting back in his chair.
- Look, Tess. Here’s the thing, I have a proposition for you -
- Go on -
- Any minute now, Loki and a variant of himself called Sylvie will enter this place – “Sylvie" the woman that was with him on the train...was himself from another dimension? - You have got to be kidding me, someone took “fuck yourself” far too literal – he laughed, - But he is not your father, not yet at least -.
I had one chance, only one. And it turns out he wasn't the Loki I thought he was. They took him out of 2012, when he lost to The Avengers in New York.
Three fucking years apart, before the Dark Elves attack. I backed up until I found the chair, into which I collapsed from exhaustion and stress. Unfortunately, I had shed too many tears back on the TVA, so my eyes were dry and hurt when trying to expel some liquid.
- And what? They’ll come, what do you want me to do? -
- You really don’t care what happens to you, are you this hopeless after so many years of fighting to stay sane and alive? -
- You know all, and apparently manipulate all, shouldn’t you know how this end? - I growled, making him scoff, - I do, but I still want to hear it from you -.
- What do you want? - I hissed, getting pretty tired of his attitude.
- I have in my hand something you want, and something I want, by the hand of your choice, the order will be carried out, and neither you nor I can refuse it -.
- Sounds fun, play on – he made movements with his hands so fast, it was impossible for me to choose. I closed my eyes, and gently placed my hands upon his hand. He turned his hand and opened it showing a paper with a lot of numbers.
- What are these? - I asked examining the paper, - Coordinates – he looked over the paper and then back to me, again with a smile on his face, - That leads where? - I tried to associate the numbers with some of the coordinates that I already knew, due to the incidents, but they had no Earth latitudes, which meant that this was on another planet.
- To your mom’s hideout – I could feel my blood actually flutter, all the way up to my eyes, - You wanted me to find my mom, why? - he jumped when I slammed my hands on his desk, - Actually, I wanted you to get back to Sigyn, that, that’s what you wished –.
That name, brought with it a ghastly burning in my chest. Those Autumm curls were my doom, her warm smile, oh! and the stars that shone on her face, how I loved to trace our vows on her skin.
Wait, what? Come again, who am I speaking about? - Who’s Sigyn? - I was confused, images in my head of a woman I definitely didn’t know haunted me.
- You know – he grinned, as the sound of the main door disrupted our conversation, - They’re here, quick hide, don’t let them see you – he sat up, hid the papers he pulled out for me, but before I did, I took a green apple off his desk and thew it at him.
- Hey! - he caught the fruit with his hand and turned to look at me, - 20 bucks that she betrays him first – he laughed and kept walking, - You’re on – I heard him say before I jumped out of a window, sliding down the ledge until I reached a stable point, where I could see and hear what will happen inside the study.
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