Sinbound: Variants

Part 11

After screaming to Heimdall I fly through the city of Asgard with one wing. I crash in the middle of the rainbow bridge, feeling as if I broke my arm. I can't feel anymore pain, it would be impossible. I lost my sister, I had my wing ripped out of my back, I saw Loki... I can't. This is not how this ends. I pick myself back up and struggle to get to the weapons vault. No one stops me, instead they all stare in horror at their once glorious queen turn into a monster that's tearing through their golden oasis. 

I fall down the steps, landing at the bottom. I heave to catch my breath, closing my eyes. They shoot open since the first thing I see is the variant... my variant, ripping out the heart of the love of my life. It haunts my every thought.

I grit my teeth and get up, limping towards the Infinity Gauntlet. "You better have been right about this, you mischievous scamp." I say as I rip the time stone from the golden armor. I get dizzy suddenly, clutching the stone tight in my hands. I fall to the ground, catching myself on my broken arm by accident and hitting me head. I black out.

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"Ayca, please hear me for a moment." Loki whispers to me as we hold ourselves against the wall just outside the throne room. 

"Yes?"

"Remember when I told you that there was a way for us to stay together, but would cause an uproar?" He begins. Wait a minute, I remember this. What did I say again?

"Loki, I don't really think now is the right time to be ta-"

"Marry me."

I stand back behind a pillar, watching this moment happen. I look down in my hand, and I see I'm still in possession of the time stone. I look back up at us, continuing to watch.

"Marry you?" I hear myself say.

"Please?" He asks, and I watch him cup my face in his hands. The way he looks at me gives me butterflies.

"If I make it out alive, you'll have your answer." Ayca, you dumb bitch. I shake my head and step away into the corners of the palace, finding a back way into the throne room. This is my chance to stop the variant from becoming. This is my chance to save my sister and Loki... to save myself.

I find a way in through an open window all the way at the top of the room through a few pillars. I tuck myself up in the golden rafters and watch, waiting for myself to walk through the doors. Hela is sitting on the throne, abusing her place. I grit my teeth, holding back the urge to end her right there. I need to wait for my moment.

I walk in, and I watch the scene play out as it did. I smile to myself, remembering the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' reference I made. It made me sound super smart and sassy, and it made it that much better knowing that she didn't even know it was a reference.

I watch the fight, and soon I see her let go of me after I claim that I can't die. She calls me a fool, and my senses are heightened. It's almost time. The last words she spoke to me ring throughout the grand room. "You are. Well, were. You walk these halls as if you own death, as if you embody it. You will, just not the way you intend."

I watch myself back up and retreat, running to Loki. I plummet down from my hiding place and strike Hela across the head. I tumble and land like a true Avenger, on one knee and holding myself up with one hand firmly on the ground. Past Ayca looks at me, horrified and confused. Loki skids, holding her close and guarding her. I quickly beam a hot, purplish red plasma at Hela, who flies back hard and hits against a column. It crumbles from the force, and I turn to myself. "Get out of here!" I yell. The past Ayca studies me for a moment, Loki tugging on her arm to leave.

"How can I trust you?" She calls to me as I fire another plasma ball at Hela to keep her back. 

"When you get back home, go to the attic in your old house. Pull up the floorboard under the window and read everything in that journal. Now go, get back to Midgard now!" I shout at her. She nods, complying, then runs away with Loki.

"That's a nice little pebble you've got there, Ayca. When do you come from?" Hela asks, recognizing the stone.

"A few months past your demise." I growl at her. She laughs at me, getting to her feet.

"So, what kind of mess did your variant get into to make you come back and try to stop it?"

"You knew I would become a variant if you killed me?" I ask, shocked at how much she knew what she was doing. I'll give it to her, hot death lady is smarter than she leads on.

"I counted on it."

"So what now? I came here to stop you from killing me, and while I'm at it I may as well protect Asgard as well."

"Small ambitions for someone who knows their fate." She says wickedly.

"Well, what did you have in mind, your highness?" I mock, fake curtsying. She whips a long dagger with ridges from the air, strutting towards me like a snake with legs. her hips glide from side to side as she drags the tip of the weapon on the floor. It scratches against the stone, making a piercing noise. I ready my weapon, holding a ball of plasma in my hands. She circles me, then suddenly drops her weapon.

"What's the matter?" I ask, finding joy in not fighting her. I take a chance to be an absolute prick and make a chicken sound at her, implying that she's weak for not fighting.

"You never change, do you?" She says, clicking her tongue at me. "Look what you've done now. You have no idea how to survive this. You have no idea what you just caused!" She throws her head back in laughter.

"I caused something good. You can't trick me, Hela!"

"I am not the trickster, you stupid she-devil." She spits, walking away.

I scoff and drop my arms to the side. "You're not going to fight me?" I call after her. She barely turns her head to respond.

"There's no point." I rush towards the sounds of screaming, suddenly remembering that Asgard is currently at war. I run through the hallways, not knowing where Hela is. I should keep track of her, she could try to kill me again. I chase her, but she's going away from the fight. Why?

I follow her through the palace and to the weapons vault. Wasn't she already here to collect her army and Fenrir?

I hide in the shadows in the corner of the room. She stops in the middle of the narrow hallway, then turns and looks directly at me. "Put the stone back, Ayca." She demands.

"Not on your command." I say, strutting into the light. I hang on tight to the stone in my hand.

"Have it your way, then. I tried forcing you to see my way, but even every version of you cannot. You've still chosen wrong. What are you even the god of?" She asks, reaching for my hand and crushing almost every bone in it. I scream out in pain, and I lose control of my grip on the time stone. She catches it in the air as I let it go, crushing it.

"No!" I scream, but it's too late.

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I come to in the middle of an apocalyptic New York city. Buildings are demolished and torn down, cars flipped over and some still on fire. Bodies lay scattered in the streets and hanging out of tall story windows. Broken glass paves a new road on top of the concrete, and the air is still dusty. I look around for anyone, any sign of life... there's nothing.

I turn around, my feet shuffling rubble and broken shards of glass as my shoes pivot against the asphalt. I look up, shielding my eyes from the sun at the Stark Tower. Half of it is gone. 

"What the hell?" I ask out loud.