The three walked down the pink trail. Flames fell from the sky in the distance, but they were in the clear now.

There was a city in the distance that they were walking too, about a mile or so away.

"You know, I don't think I've ever walked this much in my life."

"That's a pretty good life." Sylvie replied to Loki.

"Well, you're lucky you missed it."

"Just start taking some daily jogs and you'll be fine." Wanda smiled.

"Here's an idea. What if you enchanted me and you could walk for both of us?" Loki suggested. "I take a nap in my subconscious, and you could just wake me when we arrive. Yeah?"

"That's not how enchantment works." Sylvie replied with a small smile.

"All right, how does it work?"

"Doesn't matter."

Sylvie glanced to Wanda and Wanda gave a smile.

"You know, I feel like I've told you so much about me. And I really don't know the first thing about you."

"Thanks for the tactical advantage."

"Ah so you want to use the tactical advantage to kill me when the TVA shows up?"

"Worried, are you?"

"I just need to know if I can trust you."

"Wanda does. Isn't that enough?" Sylvie asked.

Loki looked at Wanda, then back at Sylvie.

"Maybe, but I'd still like to know something."

Sylvie rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine. You want to know how enchantment works. I have to make physical contact and then grab hold of their mind." Sylvie explained, making it sound simple.

"How?"

"It depends on the mind. Most are easy and I can overtake then instantly. Other's, the stronger ones, it gets tricky. I'm in control, but they're there, too. In order to preserve the connection, I have to create a fantasy from their memories. Then with the incredibly strong ones, which are very uncommon, I put them in a prison like section of their mind if it's truly needed to take them over."

Wanda glanced at her as she spoke the ending.

"Unless I'm feeling nice." Sylvie said, making eye contact with Wanda for a moment before both turned back straight.

"And you call me a magician." Loki scoffed.

"That young soldier from the TVA, C-20? Her mind was messed up. Everything clouded. I had to pull a memory from hundreds of years prior, before she even fought for them." Sylvie said.

"What?" Loki stopped walking. "What'd you just say?"

"Before she joined the TVA?" Wanda added.

"Yeah. She was just a regular person on Earth." Sylvie said.

"A regular person?" Loki repeated.

"Loved margaritas." Sylvie shrugged.

Loki and Wanda looked at each other as they came to the same realization.

"We were told that everyone who works for the TVA was created by the Time Keepers." Loki said.

"That's ridiculous. They're all variants, just like us." Sylvie said.

"They don't know that." Wanda continued Loki's talk.

"All ticketed passengers..." A voice from the city called.

"That's our ride." Sylvie said.

The three, who had stopped walking to talk about the TVA, began speed walking towards the city.

"Ten minutes till launch..."

It only took a few minutes to reach the city, then they slowed down a touch and began walking through, staying close to one another stay together

"Final boarding call..."

"Do we trust one another?" Sylvie asked as they walked under a tunnel that was painted blue.

"We do." Loki said.

"We should." Wanda also said.

As they reached the exit of the tunnel, they saw a mass crowd of people running around, frantic.

"Good. Because this is gonna suck." Sylvie sighed.

Then the three walked into the city.

"We are at full capacity. Please return to your homes. Stand back!" A red suited guard said to the crowd.

"Let us on!"
"We're going to die!"
"You can't do this to us!"

The crowd fought against the guards and tried to get in, but none were succeeding.

"Five minutes until launch." The announcer spoke, only causing more chaos.

"They're going to let these people die." Loki said, looking around.

"We have to get on that ark and make sure it takes off." Sylvie said.

"How?" Wanda asked.

Sylvie grabbed Loki and Wanda and pulled them away from the crowd.

"We go around." She said with a firm nod.

"Okay."
"Let's go."

It was a good thing they moved because within a moment, guards surrounded the area they just were and began fighting the civilians off.

"Return to your homes." The guards urged.

The three ran to a new street where many people were running through, only to be attacked by guards. The variants watched the guards beat the civilians.

Then they heard a loud crack from above them.

Everyone around looked up to see the orange planet split into many pieces. Flames and explosions began falling from the sky. It was quiet for a short moment, then the first flame hit the building next to them, causing everyone to duck and scream.

The three ran forwards to get through the guards, but before they could, a blast of fire shot in front of them, throwing them all off balance.

Wanda formed a shield around her, but it was too late, she was already falling backwards.

A loud ringing in Loki's ears told him to stand, and he managed to be the first one up. He grabbed Wanda's hand and pulled her up while Sylvie grabbed Loki's shirt and pulled herself up.

"You okay?" Loki asked the two.

"Yeah." Both said simultaneously.

They ran into a large building that hadn't been caught on fire yet. The room was a dark purple color with lights all over the walls instead of the ceiling.

A guard must've noticed them because one came up behind them and grabbed Sylvie by her Asgardian jacket.

Sylvie immediately allowed the clothing to slide off and she grabbed it, yanking it and causing the guard to fall on his face.

Another guard came from another entrance of the building and Loki shot a blast of green magic at him.

A third ran in, shouting "Hey! Stop right there!"

Wanda picked him up with her own red magic and slammed him into a fourth guard that was coming through.

Sylvie ran past her and jump kicked the two, making sure they both fell down and couldn't get back up.

The one that had grabbed Sylvie stood back up and Loki formed a dagger, stabbed him, and made the dagger vanish.

"Keep going!" Sylvie called to the two.

They ran out of the building, dodging civilians, guards, and somehow most fire blasts.

Buildings shook and large building materials began falling, hitting the streets and shattering all over the streets.

"Over there!" Sylvie grabbed Wanda who was still running straight, and turned her so that they went and hid under a tilted building.

Loki joined them but before they could settle, a blast of fire rained down. Wanda managed to form a shield above them, but they had to run again.

They ran towards a different building, then that one caught aflame and the roof of it began sliding.

"Run!" Sylvie shouted.

The three turned and ran in the opposite direction, barely missing the roof crashing on top of them.

They turned the street but then a loud crash was heard. Wanda turned first and her eyes widened as a large building began falling, one they couldn't outrun.

"Watch out!" Sylvie shouted once more.

Wanda held up her hands, but her magic wasn't fast enough.

"I got it!" Loki called.

He formed two fists and brought them to his side dramatically. The building stopped mid fall and Loki took a breath, then the building flew back up to it's original position.

Wanda turned and looked at him with a mix of shock and awe.

Loki winked at her, then Sylvie shouted at them to keep running.

"Come on, let's go!" She shouted.

Wanda and Loki chased after her, running next to each other.

"Where was that this whole time?" Wanda asked, her voice panting as she ran.

"I've been saving my best magic tricks." Loki replied, also out of breath as they ran.

Many guards were in their way, so Sylvie was shoving them out, Loki doing the same. Wanda didn't have the arm strength, so she raised her hands and all the guards lifted into the air, then flew off into far away distances.

"We can still make it!" Loki said encouragingly.

Sylvie turned her head back to Wanda, who was very much out of breath.

"Wanda come on!" She called, and Wanda began running once more.

It didn't do them any good, because as soon as they continued running, a giant meteor, on fire as well, crashed through the ark in front of them.

They were hopeless.

All three stopped as the explosion ensued.

Sylvie had a look of solemn defeat on her face. Wanda had a look that showed that she was useless. She couldn't save them. Loki had a look that showed that all the hope he had was diminished. He was going to die here.

They all were.

Sylvie turned around, away from the now useless ark, and she walked away.

All the civilians around them were stuck, not moving. They knew their fate.

Wanda and Loki remained standing. Wanda's gaze had traveled down to the dirty path, unable to look up at the ark like Loki could.

After minutes of silence, Wanda put her hand on Loki's, jsut to pull him out of the frozen trance he was in.

"We need to leave. The city will be one of the first things gone." She said, her voice at a whisper.

Loki gave a nod, not saying anything. The two walked out, Wanda with her hand on Loki's. With her magic, she could feel everything he was feeling, but she refused to look into his thoughts.

They were about to die, yes, but there was no time to be intrusive.

Instead she tried to calm his emotions, like she was trying to calm her own. They were both frightened, on edge, but there was something different between them as well.

Loki wasn't ready to die.

The two walked to where they noticed Sylvie sitting, just outside the city, looking at the vast emptiness of the pink planet.

She sat on a rock that was on the left side of a triangle of three rocks.

She had a blank look on her face, not bothering to glance at Loki or Wanda as they approached her. Wanda let go of Loki and slowly settled herself on the middle rock that sat a touch behind the two.

Loki sat on the right side. Sylvie said nothing.

"I'm sorry." Loki said after a moment of silence.

Sylvie finally looked at him, then at Wanda. She then turned her gaze back straight ahead.

"I remember Asgard. Not much, but I remember. My home. My people. My life..." She spoke.

Wanda put a hand on her shoulder, and Sylvie didn't bother to move it away. Like she had with Loki, Wanda listened to all the emotions that Sylvie was feeling. It was different. She was still frightened, but she was calm as well.

She was upset, but there was a feeling in her that told her it was too late to be upset. She didn't need to die fighting.

"The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos." Sylvie said.

Wanda removed her hand.

"Like me being born the Goddess of Mischief. And as soon as that created a big enough detour from the Sacred Timeline, the TVA showed up, erased my reality, and took me prisoner. I was just a child." Sylvie continued.

Wanda put her hands in her lap, small sparks of red magic escaping her fingertips as Sylvie spoke.

"I escaped. Stole a Tempad, and I ran for a long, long time. Which really sucked. Everywhere and every-when I went, it caused a Nexus event. Sent up a smoke flare. Because I'm not supposed to exist." Sylvie gave a defeated smile.

Then she continued.

"Until, eventually, I figured out where to hide. And so that's where I grew up, the ends of a thousand worlds." She gave a scoff. "And now... That's where I'll die."

The three looked out, towards the orange planet that was slowly falling through space, ready to crash into the pink planet.

"I was ten when.. when everything started for me. There was a bomb thrown at my apartment and my home blew up. My parents were both gone and me and my brother were trapped under a pile of rubble and rocks for days." Wanda said.

Loki looked at her, but Wanda's gaze remained on the flaming rocks falling down.

"Guess I'll die under a pile of rubble and rocks as well." She said with a half hearted chuckle.

The many pieces that the planet had split into began hitting the surface of the pink planet.

"Not long now." Sylvie said.

Loki put his hand on Wanda's, causing the small red sparks to vanish as he took ahold of her hand.

Wanda looked at Sylvie and put her own hand on Sylvie's as well, connecting the three of them.

"Do you think that the fact that what makes a Loki a Loki, is that we're destined to lose?" Sylvie asked.

"No." Wanda replied. She wasn't a Loki, but she was answering for the both of them, reassuring them both. "You may lose, sometimes painfully. But you don't die. You survive." She said.

She turned to look at Sylvie and her grip on her hand tightened a bit.

"You did. You were just a child when the TVA took you, but you nearly took down the entire organization that claims to rule time's order. You did it on all your own. You're amazing." She said.

Sylvie gave a soft smile, then Wanda turned her head to Loki.

"And you, you watched your whole life play out in front of you. The pain and the suffering, but you strived on. You took it unpon yourself to keep moving forward. Then you were given a chance to free yourself from the TVA and you took it. And you took me with you. It was an incredible move on your part." She said, squeezing Loki's hand as well.

"You both saved me, and you saved each other. You don't lose. You live." She said.

Just as she finished, a firey meteor crashed into the mountains in the distance.

The three turned away from each other and looked forward, watching the ground quake apart and all the rock and core of the planet begin to fly apart, ripping the planet up.

None of them said anything, but they were at ease.

That is, until three TVA doors spawned behind them.

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My favorite quote of this chapter: "I take a nap in my subconscious, and you could just wake me when we arrive. Yeah?"