the sun in your eyes ☼ loki

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞: 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺

Anya nods and follows her, but glances at Steve over her shoulder and watches him walk to the opposite direction.

On the other hand, Loki and Sylvie keep zooming past through different times, but they both couldn't find Anya anywhere. Even when they went to the time where he apparently took Anya to dinner. They only saw the Anya from that timeline, not the Anya that he knew. Sylvie had to pull Loki back to a portal before the Anya from that reality sees them; Loki sort of screamed Anya's name and 'she' came running.

Loki grows frustrated and had to take it out of the nearest boulders around them. Sylvie ducks down to dodge the broken rocks, widening her eyes at Loki.

"Fuck's sake!" Sylvie curses.

"How is it that we can't find her. The log of the locations are right there!" He aggressively gestures to the superior TemPad in her hand.

Sylvie holds up the device. "It's like something is blocking her out from us. Someone doesn't want her to be found."

"Kang might get to her, and... and this is all my fault." Loki grips his own hair out of frustration. "This is my fault, Sylvie. I've always known that venturing out to another reality would be catastrophic, but I did it anyway. I... I did this to her."

Sylvie frowns, approaching Loki but he flinches backwards so she stops. "Loki..."

"And now, the war could get worse and Anya still has no idea that she is at the center of it all." Loki huffs. "She must be so terrified right now." He mutters while Sylvie gives him a empathetic look.

***

"Oh, man. This is the greatest tasting water I ever drank." Anya moans in delight as she sits with Natasha in the cafeteria. "It feels like I'm drinking holy water."

Natasha just watches her with a fond smile, still in disbelief that Anya is right in front of her. "So... aliens from space, HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD, superbots, big ugly purple giant, town-napping, time-travel... do things get crazier?"

"For sure. I mean, I was dead for five years because of the purple bastard." She chuckles, but Natasha's smile fades. Anya realizes what she said. "Sorry... at this point, I just laugh it off."

"It's okay." Natasha nods. "When you... disappeared, you said it was for five years. I did nothing about it for five years?"

Anya hesitates. "Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. There's a difference between you not doing anything, and not having the ability to do anything. Yeah?"

Natasha still appears guilty, but she nods and reaches for her sister's hands. "I would've done anything I could to bring you back. You know that, right?"

Anya swallows. Oh, she knows that very much. She still remembers waking up and approaching Steve mid-fight, asking where her sister is with a big smile.

"Where's Nat? I couldn't find her."

The smile on Steve's face slowly fades and hers as well. She begins to dread what Steve is about to say. "Oh... Anya, your sister, she..." he struggles to word it.

Anya must have put together the pieces. She wavers and feels her stomach twist. "Oh."

Steve frowns, walking towards her. "Anya, I'm so sorry."

It was like being slapped across the face. Five minutes ago, she was on Titan and her body was turning into dust. And five minutes ago, she was telling Tony to tell her sister that she is sorry.

Natasha, Yelena and Anya always knew that a mission can always be their last, which is why they coined their little phrase. Anya knew this day was coming and she always prepared herself for it.

Still, she swallows tightly. "How did it happen?"

"Trying to get the Soul Stone. She was with Clint."

"Did she suffer?" Steve's silence only gave her an answer, and Anya nods while trying to hold back her tears. "Right."

"She did it for you, Anya. She wanted to bring you back."

Anya squeezes Natasha's hand and nods. "I know."

Natasha offers her a smile before pulling her into a hug. Anya closes her eyes and embraces Natasha, reveling in the warmth of her sister. Any second now, she could be sucked into another reality, so she is making every second count.

"We should talk about the elephant in the room." Natasha pulls away and Anya gives her a confused look. "You and, um... Loki."

Anya softens, sighing a bit. "Nat, you haven't seen it yet, but Loki is a good man who treats me right. He has always treated me right." She squeezes her hands. "I want you to know that right now, Loki isn't in control of his actions. Thanos is making a pawn out of him. Loki is a good person, who is incredibly hurt right now."

Natasha looks reluctant, as if she wanted to believe her sister but at the same time, she didn't want to trust Loki immediately. Anya doesn't blame her.

Before Natasha could reply, the floor rattles. They both look at the floor before glancing towards the glass windows. Natasha thinks quick and grabs Anya before sprinting, and the glass windows shatter behind them. They jump to take cover from the glass shards bursting in place.

Into the Helicarrier, floats in a figure in dark purple cloaks. He glances around as Anya peeks from the corner. She narrows her eyes once she feels a cold emotion crawl up her spine. She stands, but Natasha grabs her arm. "What are you doing?!"

"I think I know him." Anya pulls her hand away from Natasha. "And I'm going to kill him for what he did to you."

"Anya!"

She does not even hesitate, and shows herself to him with her head held high. The variant of this man ruined her life, on a whim. And now here he is, about to ruin everyone's lives.

He forms a big grin on his face. "Ah, finally. Just the person I wanted to see."

Anya fumes. "You took everything from me."

"Okay, one; that's not your line, if I can recall correctly. And two; technically, it wasn't even me." He backs away until he was right outside the Helicarrier.

She can feel her blood boiling as she starts running towards him with a scream. However, he doesn't even move. In fact, he was smiling as she sprints towards him with an enormous fire forming in both her hands.

Just as she leaps out of the window to make contact with him, something golden opens between them and Anya falls on a ground face first.

She jolts on the floor and turns around, and the Helicarrier is gone. Instead of the familiar sky around her, she was surrounded in dim lighting in a room with dark walls. She was in a whole different place.

When she hears someone clear their throat, she slowly turns her head, only to see people surrounding her.

One of them, who clearly appears Indian and... a bit familiar, only smiles at her before waving. "Hi."

Anya still remains at offense while her arms settle in front of her, ready to attack. "Who the hell are you to stop me from killing Kang?"

A woman steps forward, and she doesn't speak. Instead, her hands move around in what Anya assumes to be sign language. The others nod at her, and the Indian man hums. "Yeah, she's right. We shouldn't pour everything on her all at once."

"Excuse me? Pour what on me at once?" Anya glares at them, disliking how they are talking as if she wasn't in the room.

The voiceless woman smiles, approaching her. Anya flinches a bit, but somehow, the woman's warm smile relaxes her a bit. She makes a gesture with her hands, pointing towards herself and to Anya before making a pinching gesture with her fingers, and moving them to draw an invisible circle.

Anya glances at the other strangers, having no idea what she just said. An Asian woman walks up to her as well, smiling too. "She said, you... are family. Welcome home."

☼

note: did you all see this coming from a mile away?