The New Timeline

Naked. In Asgard. Again. Sylvie swallowed.

The cuffs slipped from her, as the TVA had said, leaving her with nothing but the altered TemPad in one hand. And in front of her, all the grandeur of her home, ruled over by Queen Hela.

Gratefully, Sylvie immediately tried to cover herself up with her arms, relieved to at last have the freedom to do so, holding the TemPad over her core for what little additional cover it offered.

There was something that got to her uniquely about streaking here, of all places - no matter how much time passed, Asgard was still, on some level, her home. This was the grand hallway that she’d walked through so many times, even if it looked a little different now. And here she was, feet bare against the marble, blushing, squirming, and expected to venture on.

If nothing else, she pre-prepared a set of escape co-ordinates on her TemPad. If things went badly, she was one tap away from running, and hopefully dressing again. The TVA had implied Hela didn’t yet worry about more distant threats - keeping watch over a whole universe had to be disconcerting.

Not that she especially wanted to face her kind-of-sister again just now, for all sorts of reasons. They hadn’t really left things on a good note. And what was she even meant to do?!

The TVA hadn’t given her a plan. Maybe they were just banking on her coming up with something? She had needed to get inventive on her flight, after all. Though she didn’t know what she was working with just yet.

Maybe she could get a quick look? Nervously, Sylvie crept forwards, trying to tip-toe down the marble. She kept looking back, conscious of the air, and the fact that she’d always known this hallway to be filled with guards.

She stuck her head around the throne room door, hoping to just get a quick glimpse and pull back, unseen. Instead, she almost froze in place - and then felt the floor under her feet shift, dragging her fully into the new Queen Hela’s presence. She squealed unwittingly, caught by surprise.

It was, unmistakably, Hela’s Asgard. There was a wolf curled up to one side of the throne, and a neatly ordered legion stood to either side of the grand chamber, two blocks of green-flame-eyed soldiers. As one, each pair turned to look at the newest arrival, as she desperately clutched her arms back over herself.

And at the far side, on the throne, was Hela herself - she was clad in black and green, powers apparently restored to her, with a spiky crown of interlocking branches that mirrored the ornate, eerie throne behind her. And on one hand, from the same black material as her crown and blades, was a gauntlet that shone with six differently coloured lights.

She eyed the flustered Sylvie, contemplative.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again,” Hela said, at last.

There were a lot of reasons to turn and run - not the least of which being that she was currently naked in the middle of a very busy throne room. The figures stood so very still. Sylvie fidgeted.

“Um,” Sylvie managed, trying to find her voice.

“As far as times I’ve been betrayed by family go, yours was comparatively minor,” Hela said. She paused. “Though it was the most… undignified. Though you seem to have had your comeuppance in that sense, at least.”

“Er. Right,” Sylvie said.

“So. Why are you here?” Hela said. She raised an eyebrow. “Sentiment? I have done… rather well, with the knowledge that you gave me. If you want a place of safety from your TVA, we have it - no need to storm them just yet. Whatever wards they have against magic don’t affect us out here. I have all I could ever need, and they have no power to stop me.”

“Yeah, I-I heard that,” Sylvie said, thinking quickly.

Step one, inevitably, had to be to get close. If she could justify that…

“I know we didn’t leave on the… best of terms,” Sylvie said. “But a safe place like this is all I’ve ever searched for.”

“Is that so?” Hela said, skeptical.

It was hard to tell what Hela was thinking. Her face was impassive, her expression unreadable, little more than cold detachment in her eyes. It was unnerving to imagine her the most powerful person in this universe.

Sylvie was, she reflected, very very tired of needing to have significant conversations in the nudge. She adjusted her arms, nervously shifting to make sure a breast was better concealed.

“So, um…”

“If I could look at your mind, this would be simple,” Hela mused, drumming her gauntlet-clad fingers on the arm of her throne. “We have that in common, at least. We are apart from our original universes - as the stones only affect beings from their own timeline directly, we are both exempt from such direct manipulation.”

Sylvie hesitated. Hela’s eyes narrowed.

“Make no mistake. Should you move against me, I am still more than capable of turning the air around you to stellar fire,” Hela said. “If you are planning another betrayal, I will ensure you face consequences. But you are, if indirectly, the reason I escaped my end at Ragnarok. For that, consider your survival… gratitude.”

“Thank you,” Sylvie said, quickly.

Okay, the TVA had said she was the only one Hela wouldn’t kill immediately. And presumably even their own infinity stones weren’t a match for Hela’s, if they weren’t native to this timeline.

There was something there, maybe? Sylvie filed it away in the back of her mind. Hela didn’t seem all that concerned by her presence. But maybe she could figure out some weakness? Sylvie shifted, debating whether asking Hela for clothes would end well, or if it would just remind the goddess of when Sylvie had stripped her.

“So I can… stay?” Sylvie said, hesitantly.

“With the knowledge that if you ever act against me, I will not hesitate,” Hela said. She paused, and for a brief moment there was a flicker of something on her stony face. “And Asgard ought to be ruled by our family. Your presence is… justifiable.”

“Thank you,” Sylvie said again, a little high-pitched.

She took a nervous step back, feeling the eyes of those in the room follow her. They hadn’t interrupted, apparently all loyal to Hela, but she could still feel their stares.

“I’ll, er, find my old room,” Sylvie said.

“Do that,” Hela said, dismissively. Already, she was turning away, peering through directions that Sylvie couldn’t even guess at, the stones shining. “I have worlds to rule.”

Ah. That. Sylvie schooled her expression, and stumbled back into the empty halls of Asgard. She took a deep breath, and then ran as quickly as she could for the privacy of a room.