Love in Time

TVA

The attempts at flirting didn't stop there; I didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. Loki dared to ask me out to dinner if I released him.
After finishing the rest of my reports, I decided to go to the courtroom and listen in on Loki's trial. I snuck through the side doors and sat on one of the benches. Ravonna was judging the trial, and she looked confused when she saw me,
"Rose, why are you in here?" "I just wanted to be a witness, and besides, I got bored," I sat up straight on the bench.
Loki smiled at me, "So, your name is Rose? Lovely name for a lovely woman," "That's not gonna work on me," I reminded.
"Are you immune to charm?" he asked sarcastically. "Yes, pretty much," I snapped.
"Enough, both of you," Ravonna ordered. Loki and I glared at each other and then watched the trial.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," Loki warned.  
    Just when Loki was about to be sentenced to reset, my father, Agent Mobius, intervened,

    "I think I might have an idea of what he's capable of." "Dad?" I asked, confused.
   "Approach the bench," Ravonna invited. I stayed sitting down in shock.

"If you're thinking what I think you are, it's a bad idea," Judge Renslayer warned. "Okay, I'm just trying to chase a hunch," Dad replied. "If it goes sideways, it's on you," she said. "I feel like I'm always looking up to you," my father said in a way that sounded like flirting. "I like it. It's appropriate," Renslayer smirked.

After the Hearing

  I walked back to my desk to work on another set of reports, but then I felt I should walk to the holding cell where Dad had taken Loki. I didn't know what had happened, but I had the odd feeling that I should see if he was alright.

  I scanned my badge, and the door slid open. Loki was staring at a screen in shock and despair; he laughed.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked shyly. He just looked at me sadly, which he tried to hide with stoicism. I hesitantly walked closer and saw the screen playing the file of Loki's life, which showed how he would die. Thanos would kill him in the most painful way imaginable, his neck snapped by the Mad Titan. My heart broke as I saw the event played out on the screen. At that moment, I decided Loki wasn't an evil man, but he was traumatized. He had a hard upbringing. Odin, the king of the gods, didn't see him as a son but as a political tool to keep the peace with the Frost Giants. Laufey, his birth father, planned to kill him. Loki was a prince that was cast aside from the beginning. I wanted so badly to hug him.
An awkward silence followed, and Loki and I looked at each other with anxiety.
"I'm so sorry, Loki, I am," I told him. "I thought you didn't trust me," he replied in awe.

"I don't trust you," I smiled. "But that doesn't mean I don't care," I sat at the table with the monitor and turned off the projection so it wouldn't cause him more stress. 
   "What the Time Keepers don't know is that you have the power to change your future," I looked at him sincerely.
  "I thought the Time Keepers determine the future," Loki sat with me at the table.
  I nodded, "But you can change how that future happens. You have the power to change and become a better person," I couldn't believe we were having a heart-to-heart after minutes of knowing each other.
  "You're not an evil person, by the way," I told him. "How do you know? You hardly know me," he scoffed.
  "I can see that you're just angry and taking it out incorrectly," I replied. "I want to help you," I added nervously.
  Loki smiled mischievously, "Are you nervous?" "No," I laughed, "I've never been this vulnerable with anyone." Having a Norse god in front of me was daunting, especially when he wouldn't stop flirting with me! I couldn't believe it. I didn't want events with Thomas to repeat; that was the most heartbreaking thing I've gone through.

  "Will your father be cross that we're talking?" Loki asked curiously. I shook my head, "No, he won't mind, but he'll be extra angry if you do anything to hurt me," I warned.
  "Why would I hurt you?" he asked with genuine confusion.
    "I've read your file; you have literally stabbed people in the back to betray them," I said as a matter of fact. "You could do that when you get what you want and have no use of me, and then you would leave and never return!" I was oddly passionate in my words, and then I felt embarrassed.

    I got up from the table and walked towards the screen so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with him, and I put my head in my hands to hide my face, which was going red.
  "Rose, I can tell we have something in common," I heard Loki tell me. I did the brave thing and turned around to look at him.
I sniffed, "And what's that?" "We both know what it's like to be hurt by people we thought loved us," he replied.
  I sniffed to get rid of the tears forming in my eyes, "I think you're right," I sat back down with him and awkwardly looked at him. "We have another thing in common as well." "Which is?" Loki invited. "We've dealt with enough pain over the years," I told him.
  Dad came back into the room, and he looked at me and Loki. "I see you're getting to know each other," he raised an eyebrow.
  Loki and I looked at each other and then back at him.
"I was just making sure he wasn't trying to go anywhere," I told my father. "That's right," Loki agreed with me.
Dad looked at me and Loki again, and then he just shrugged. "Fair enough, but I've got an offer for you,"

  Let's say Loki refused the offer at first, but the next day he was working at the desk next to mine. Oddly enough, I was ecstatic about that.