Lost in Reality

Chapter 4: Scheming

Loki and Wanda caught their breath as they arrived on the steps of a building. Looking around, Loki soon realised they were in the middle of 20th century, Midgard. It was dark, presumably around midnight, with no one outside apart from him and Wanda. However there was still a horrible sick feeling inside his stomach as they had just encountered his worst fear. He glanced to see Wanda sitting on the steps weeping. Honestly, Loki had no idea what to do. He sat beside her in silence for a while. He could understand how frustrating and painful it was to be reminded that technically you were responsible for the death of a loved one.

After a few minutes he asked, "Do you... Feel any better?" Wanda sniffled, "No. I have been trying for so long to forget about, you know, losing Pietro and my parents but it just never seems to get better. Day after day I keep feeling guiltier that I could have stopped Ultron from killing Pietro; I could have come and stopped the bullets or- Or saved both Clint and the boy without coming close to the bullets... But I failed. Pietro took care of me for such a long time, he protected me, but when he needed it the most... I failed as a sister." Loki was speechless and then felt like a crappy and horrible brother, after all what he had done up till the Battle of New York. He sat beside her to offer some sort of comfort though he had no idea how to. And he also felt bad for Wanda. She was just a mortal kid, about what - 20 or something. She was basically a baby (according to Asgardian terms). So he decided to do what his mother used to do with him. He gently put his hand around Wanda's frail body. She looked at him with touched and grateful eyes and they sat there, quite awkwardly for sometime. This reminded Wanda very much of what Pietro used to do when she felt down, and this reminded of the time when Thor comforted Loki after being punished by Odin once when they were kids.

Wanda then sighed, as Loki took his hand back, "Guess you were correct. Where are we, though?" Loki answered, "Midgard in the mid-20th century, I presume. What do you reckon we do now?" Wanda answered, "I guess we find a place to eat, maybe. Because I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." Thinking about food made Loki realise how long it had been since he had drunk that wine with his other Loki variants in the Void. He agreed, standing up, "Okay, let's do that." They both went over to a restaurant which was thankfully open, and had a quick dinner of pizza and salad, considering the fact that Loki had somehow conjured Midgardian money of those times. Wanda was hungry, but she seemed distracted, "So, um, I'm stuck in this web too, right? Well, I can start by thanking you for dinner. Thanks. And you can start by explaining me how exactly this whole chaos started." Loki patiently explained everything - how he got captured by the TVA, working with Mobius, teaming up with Sylvie, discovering the Timekeepers were fake, arriving at the Void, enchanting Alioth, and finally the whole drama with He Who Remains.

Wanda leaned back in her seat. They were the only people present there but she didn't care, "Wow. Just wow. To imagine that a simple human controls - well, controlled - all of reality is just- damn." Loki was tired, "Hmm. I now have no idea what do we have to do now." Wanda took a bite of a pizza slice, "I'd suggest we go find Sylvie. We could use all the help we get." She noticed sadness in Loki's eyes and asked gently, "She was close to you, wasn't she?" Loki became quiet and found his salad interesting, "It doesn't matter. Forget about it, we have to focus on the future. So, we know that an infinite number of Kang variants are going to come and deliberately create chaos. And He Who Remains did mention that he will eventually return to the position he was at one time and the cycle repeats. So-" Wanda gasped, "Wait, if he comes back again and again, so do you think the same cycle repeats itself again and again?" Loki frowned, "What do you mean?" Wanda set aside her plate to explain, "Like before every Multiversal Wars, Sylvie has to kill every He Who Remains variant, and then after the war ends, he will return. Then many, many eons later another Sylvie will come to kill him again and the whole process repeats." Loki slowly nodded, "If this is true, then God knows how long such a cycle has been going on. But we don't want He Who Remains returning as the Supreme Lord again, because then what will be the point of us surviving right now to escape Kang's variants? We might as well be as dead at the current He Who Remains, because we will return one day eventually."