The Connection They Share

The Variant

I stretch out my arms and look around my small bedroom, I sat in my bed looking at the door, almost expecting Hela to come bursting through it. I clamber out of bed and do my daily routine before changing into some casual clothes. I make me and Wanda some breakfast then sit down outside whilst Wanda joins me a few minutes later. It had been a few days since Westview and the last time I saw my daughter, I guess you could say that I wasn't quite over it yet. I was just eating my egg sandwich when I'm sucked into a vision.

I found myself in a courtroom, up on the Judge's bench sat a stern looking woman who is framed by three gigantic heads. Where the hell am I? I turn around to see rows of benches, like those in a church, and in the front and center was a circular stand. "Next case, please" called the Judge and a door at the back of the room opens. I watch as Loki is lead down the isle by a guard then thrown into the circular stand. I walk closer, looking at his face, is this real? How is he alive and in this place? "Laufeyson. Variant L1130, AKA Loki Laufeyson, is charged with sequence violation 7-20-89." the judge reads from the file then she looks up exasperated by the trial. "How do you plead?"
"Madam, a god doesnt plead. This has been a very enjoyable pantomime, but I'd like to go home now." Loki retorts with a grin.
"Are you guilty or not guilty, sir?" The Judge continues. I frown feeling pain begging to bloom in my head and the vision falters, as though someone was trying to force me out.
Loki just scoffs "Guilty of being the God of Mischief? Yes. Guilty of finding all this incredibly tedious? Yes. Guilty of a crime against the Sacred Timeline? Absolutely not, you have the wrong person."
The Judge raises her eyebrows and leans forward slightly. "Oh, really? And who should we have?"
I double over as the pain in my head becomes too much, I could no longer focus on the things in front of me. I let out a scream before being forcefully thrust from my own vision.

I open my eyes to see Wanda hovering over me with a worried expression. I realise that I fell backwards and slowly sit up, trying to process what I saw. "Avery, are you okay?" I look at Wanda and shake my head "Loki, Loki's alive?" I mutter but Wanda still heard me.
"What? Isn't he...dead?"
I stand up and pace "That's just it, Thor saw him die, I saw him get his neck snapped in Thanos' memories. He shouldn't be alive, it must be a trick" I say dismissing it and sitting back down.
"No" Wanda turns me to look at her "Your visions are consistent and true. You didn't see a red hue did you?" I shake my head "So it must true, somewhere in the universe, Loki is alive and you can see him again."
I let out a sigh "Okay, I'm going to see Dr Strange, see if he knows this place" I make up a plan and we both stand up.
"I'll stay here, I want to study the Darkhold more, see if I can find out where our children's voices came from" Wanda says grabbing my hands,
"Good luck" I wish and she says it back. I grab my sling ring and vision New York in my mind's eye. I turn to wave at Wanda when I see the portal instead of being golden and showing New York turned purple and started to spark out of control. Wanda noticed something is wrong and runs towards me, I try to back away but the pull from the portal is too strong. I outstretch my hand trying to reach Wanda's hand, however, one final pull from the portal sent me flying going through space, I have no idea where I'm going to end up.
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I land in the middle of a tent, I quickly stand before looking around. I was stood in the middle of an old fashioned tent but I could see red, plastic cups littering the floor so I concluded I was in a renaissance fair. I hear movement from outside and run to hide in the shadows of the tent. I watch as four people walk into the tent, they had batons with orange glows on the end. They seemed to be dressed in armoured police uniform and some packs strapped to ones waist. Something was familiar about them but I couldn't put my finger on what. All of the sudden a voice came out of the speakers "My lords, my ladies, welcome and thank you for joining us, here at the castle. Please, settle into your seats for a great battle is about to commence. The prize? Our princess. Will evil prevail, or are we holding out for a hero?"
I then saw one of the soldiers go against her squad and begin to kill them off as Bonnie Tyler's song, Holding out for a Hero, plays in the background. A hooded figure came out of the shadows to stab two of the other soldiers. They leaned over the knocked out defective soldier and took the pack containing can like things. I creep around the edge as a door is opened out of nowhere, I hold out my hand and rip the cloak off their head. I stood with the cloak in hand as I looked at a female with blonde hair and a horned headband that had one broken. She looks as me in shock but that quickly changes to anger, "What the hell do you think doing?" she exclaims. as she unsheathes her sword and points it at me. I drop the cloak and form my own sword, "Umm stop you from kidnapping that woman" I say as though it's obvious.
"You have no idea what your doing" she almost shouts at me and comes closer but I hold up my own sword and she seems confused by my show of magic. "No I don't, I've just seen you come in here, kill a few people and attempt a kidnapping." At this point she had gotten about arms length away.
"Who even are you?" she asks, still holding up her sword.
"Avery, who are you?" I question back, refusing to lower my sword if she wasn't going to lower hers.
"Wait, Avery Foster?" She then drops her sword till it hug by her side. I frown and tighten my grip.
"How do you know me?" I demand, glaring at her.
"I knew you when we were young, I accidentally connected with you and when I was a bit older, we connected again before the TVA took me." She looked at my bewildered face and sighed sadly "The name's Sylvie. You don't know me, do you?"
I shake my head, not quite understanding what was going on, I looked at her sad face, she didn't seem like the murderer I saw a second ago but a child who lost their way. It kinda reminded me of Loki when we saw each other as adults for the first time. "Go" I say making up my mind "Go do whatever you need to but don't kill anymore innocents, please"
Sylvie looks at me in shock and hesitates "Are you sure?"
"Yes, we may cross paths again. You remind me of someone I used to know and if we do meet, please don't kill me" I say, honesty in my eyes.
"That I can promise, Thank you and see you later."
I nod and vanish my sword, I knew what she was going to do as she whacked me across the head with the butt of her sword. I was knocked out before I hit the ground.