Returning home

Asgard had been one of the first places Sylvie had been, after all this had begun. At first she'd been trying to get home; then it had been curiosity, wanting to know what had happened to the place. At the point at which she'd seen a giant fire giant towering over it and smashing buildings down with a sword, she hadn't lingered.

Ragnarok. It was inevitable, so the stories said; it was also a time that made it very clear that nothing she would do would attract the TVA's attention. All signs of her presence would be wiped away.

This was where she saw if she was right.

Sylvie stepped out onto a golden floor, inhaling deeply the familiar air. Nowhere quite felt the same as home. There was a thrum in the air, ancient power, and the tang of gold, and the scent of spices from the market. She could smell roast boar, and normally she could hear the clang of weapons, hear the warriors in training.

For a moment, she let herself be nostalgic, before she made herself realize that the place was different.

The clashing of weapons didn't sound as regular as sparring. There was a fracas outside, and the smell of a feast was faded, replaced by another kind of burning. It was Ragnarok, after all.

But she was here, and properly here, not in some out of the way corner. She was somewhere in the palace, high up in a tower, able to walk out onto the balcony and look down.

She glanced down at herself. The catsuit might not be the best pick for a homecoming, but it would be easier to replace it now that she was modest. Nowhere would be as embarrassing to go while she was dressed, making enchantment a much easier game. Still, she adjusted the zip, trying to fix the cleavage. There was certainly more of that than she wanted.

Sylvie looked out at Asgard. There was smoke rising in a couple of places, but no sign of Surtur yet. It would be a bit before the total destruction of the planet.

For the time being, she could just relax.

No, not relax. She needed to test her theory. Sylvie gave the room a quick once-over; it was a bedroom, though whether it was occupied or not was unclear, and if it did have an owner, they certainly weren't in. She strode over to the wide, double doors and pushed them open.

The hallway outside was comforting in its familiarity. No dark tunnels, just marble leading to a spiral stairway. Slipping her TemPad into a pocket, Sylvie began to walk.

She could still hear the sounds of a scuffle coming from somewhere. Maybe it would be best to not go too near that. If Asgard was invaded, she wanted no part in it. Okay, Asgard might be her home, but she'd never been in this Asgard. The wrong time and the wrong universe. It probably didn't even have a Goddess of Mischief.

She made it all the way to the bottom floor before someone tried to kill her. A black sword embedded itself in the wall by her head. Sylvie whirled, trying to pick between fleeing with the TemPad and enchantment, when she saw a woman striding towards her. Her hair was black, her outfit a primitive kind of armor marked with green highlights, and her gaze was set.

"And who are you?" Sylvie said, torn between the options.

The woman conjured a sword in each hand, both out of thin air. Sylvie gulped. Okay, that suggested power, and also that she maybe didn't want to fight her head-on.

"I am Hela," she said. "Goddess of ****. Firstborn of Odin and rightful Queen of Asgard. Who are you, and why are you in my castle?"

"You're who?" Sylvie said, incredulous.

Hela lifted a blade, striding closer. Sylvie ran a quick mental calculation on how quickly Hela could throw a sword, compared to how long it would take her to open a TemPad doorway. She didn't like her odds.

"Sylvie," she said. "Goddess of Mischief. Adopted daughter of Odin, not remotely interested in the throne. Kind of. Long story."

"You got past my guards," Hela said.

"You had guards?" Sylvie said.

Hela moved closer. Sylvie swallowed.

"I took a portal in," Sylvie said. "Long story, trust me. I don't want to get in your way."

She was saying that a lot lately. Vaguely, Sylvie wondered what kind of Queen Hela was; either Sylvie and Thor had been wiped from history, or Hela had. She didn't know which, and she didn't know why. She just knew that Asgard would fall soon.

The title 'Goddess of ****' might not inspire confidence, admittedly.

Hela peered at her. Sylvie paused. Well, if she was being mischievious, a bit more chaos wouldn't go amiss. The TVA hadn't arrived yet, which seemed to support her theory.

"This might be hard to believe," Sylvie said.

"Speak," Hela said.

"I'm a time traveller," Sylvie said. "From the past, technically, but I've seen the future. Ragnarok is coming: Asgard gets destroyed."

"Indeed?" Hela said. She seemed about to dismiss Sylvie, then quirked an eyebrow. "Surtur's crown. A bold strategem. Thank you for the warning, if indeed it proves true. You will have my gratitude when this coup is prevented."

Hela began to walk away. Sylvie, wondering if she was making a terrible mistake, hurried after her.

"Wait!" Sylvie said.

"Are we not finished?" Hela said.

"It's more complicated than that," Sylvie said. "You can't change time."

"I assure you, I can and I will."

"No, I mean, they won't let you," Sylvie said. "That's why I'm here at all. I was... taken, from my time, because I did something wrong. If you stop the destruction of Asgard, you'll get their attention."

Something was playing at the back of her mind. Part of it was just being glad that she could finally approach and actually talk to someone; interaction was significantly easier when she wasn't baring everything. At the same time, she was increasingly sick of being this passive.

She wanted to do more than just survive, especially when that survival kept taking her to places like Westview.

Hela slowed for a moment. She turned, looking Sylvie up and down.

"Who are you talking about?" Hela said.

"They're called the TVA. Time Variance Authority," Sylvie said. "They see themselves as guardians of the timeline; if you go of the preset course, they take you out of time and reset things until it goes their way. That way involves Ragnarok."

Hela frowned for a moment, considering.

"Why should I believe you?" Hela said.

"You don't have to," Sylvie said. "I wanted to tell you. I... guess we're kind of family."

Ragnarok was a safe place to hide, relatively speaking, because she'd leave no traces in the long-term. At the same time, if talking to Hela about all of this hadn't attracted the TVA yet, that suggested Hela might not survive the end of Asgard.

Well, that wasn't surprisingly. Vaguely, Sylvie wondered who could possibly be invading, and for that matter where the version of her in this timeline was and what they were doing.

"But do you have proof?" Hela said, more insistently.

Well that was the make-or-break moment. She could leave, find somewhere better to hide, and be glad that she'd found a brief sanctuary without a weird robot. Or...

"I have this," Sylvie said, pulling out her TemPad. "A doorway to any time and place, including the TVA itself."

"And if you had such a tool, you would have little reason to lie," Hela said. "Very well. Show me what is to come."

Sylvie nodded. She tapped a few keys, and opened a portal to a short time in the future, stepping through first. A sword in each hand, Hela walked through after her, on-guard.

They were on the outer edges of Asgard, now, a scorched green field looking up. Surtur towered overhead, crowing his victory, and swinging a sword the size of a building in the distance. They could feel the shockwaves even from where they stood.

Sylvie winced. Beside her, even Hela seemed to falter; together, they watched a deep black spike rise out from the sea, a tiny figure visible at the top of it. The black resembled the color of Hela's own weapons; if that meant this was her attempt to fight back against Ragnarok, that more than anything seemed to convinced her.

Surtur plunged his sword down. The distant, future Hela fell, and a tremor ran through all of Asgard.

Sylvie grabbed Hela, pulling her through the still-open portal a moment before their whole world fell apart.

For a moment, Hela was quiet.

"So my destiny is to lose," Hela said, quietly.

"I'm sorry," Sylvie said.

"Pity achieves nothing," Hela said. Her tone set. "So these people want my failure. They have decided to be my enemies."

Sylvie had seen the ease with which Hela had conjured her weapons, and that was even ignoring what she'd conjured to fight Surtur. She was powerful. And, just then, Sylvie wanted a bit more power in her corner.

"You say that device can open a portal to this TVA's seat of power?" Hela said.

"It can," Sylvie said. "They're not easy to fight. They seem to be mostly Midgardian, but there are a lot of them, and I've seen them use infinity stones."

"The best weapon will avail them nothing if they breath their last before they can use it," Hela said.

She conjured herself a more threatening looking sword, and smiled grimly to herself.

"Besides," she said. "They aren't the only ones with a stone. Follow me."

Hela strode off without another word. Sylvie hurried after her, recognizing the route down to the vaults. There were weapons down there, she knew; Sylvie smiled.

Maybe a war with Asgard would change the TVA's mind. As soon as they were out of the picture, she could go back to living.

"They say a group called the Timekeepers are in charge," Sylvie said. "I don't know much about them."

"Then we will find them, and I will cut them down," Hela said. "And you... if this works, you will have a place at my right hand in my Asgard."

Sylvie faltered a moment. She nodded on instinct, unsure. It had been centuries since she'd thought of coming back to Asgard. It had been all she'd wanted in the early days. Now, she was so used to not being there, it felt... strange.

She could grow used to it though. She could adapt to anything. If the TVA were stopped, if Ragnarok was stopped, if another daughter of Odin sat on the throne of Asgard and she could live a life as something other than a fugitive... She could grow used to a lot.

Hela opened the vaults, and walked up to a quietly glowing blue cube. Smiling, she tossed it to Sylvie.

"Open your portal," Hela said.

"Don't you want more of an army?" Sylvie said.

"Turn around," Hela said.

Sylvie frowned; she looked back, and stiffened.

She didn't know if they'd approached silently, or if so many had simply been kept in reserve here. They looked like warriors, people in armor, only their flesh had fallen from their bones and green flame flickered behind their eyes. The risen dead. Goddess of ****, right.

Well, it was an army. Grisly, perhaps, but they had numbers.

"Okay," Sylvie said, for a moment feeling a flicker of excitement. "Let's do this."

She tapped the TemPad a few times, and opened a doorway to the TVA itself. Hela, an army, and an infinity stone. She couldn't imagine having much of a better shot than this.