"I understand your moral objection to what the TVA does."

Sylvie was sitting back down, but she didn't like it. Her head was spinning and she felt like everything was a lie. She didn't want to believe that what she did was just use Wanda or Loki, but part of her wondered if that's all she ever did. She just used people, used those apocalypses, used other variants and their weapons, all in the search for this one thing that was now telling her this was a wild goose chase.

"Any my methods are deceptive." The man continued. "But the mission, it never was."

He sat on the table in front of Sylvie. They watched each other, waiting to see what move the other would make.

"Without me, without the TVA, everything burns."

Sylvie's nails edged against the sword she held.

"Then why do you hide? What are you afraid of?" She asked, her tone angry.

A short moment passed, as if the man didn't know how to reply, but he knew what he wanted to say.

"Me."

Sylvie took a breath.

"And just who are you?" She asked.

His attitude immediately changed from slight worry back to it's happy, uncomfortable attitude.

"Oh I've been dubbed many names by many people."

He hopped off the table and began walking around it as he spoke.

"A ruler, a conqueror. He Who Remains. A jerk."

He sat back down in his chair on the other side of the desk.

"But it's.. It's not as simple as a name."

He held up his hand and rubbed a small circle on it, making a device light up a dim orange. He flicked it off his hand and a small sphere shot off, landing on the table.

It formed into an oily like image of himself.

"Eons ago, before the TVA, a variant of myself lived on Earth in the 31st century."

Sylvie looked at the tiny sculpture stood on the desk as He Who Remains explained his story.

"He was a scientist, and he discovered that there were universes stacked on top of his own."

The image shifted to the person giving a curious look at multiple galaxy like photos in front of him.

"At the same time, other variants of us were learning the same thing. Naturally, they made contact and for a while there was peace."

The image shifted again, this time into two oily sculptures of the man, but one was walking through a time door to contact the other.

"Narcissistic, self-congratulatory peace."

The image shifted to the two sculptures shaking hands, no longer showing a time door.

" ‘I love your shoes.’ ‘I love your hair.’ ‘Hey man, nice nose.’ ‘Oh thanks man.’ Et cetera." He mimicked himself. "They shared technology and knowledge."

The image shifted to the two sculptures at a table, examining items from other universes.

"Using the best of their universe to improve the others. However."

He picked up and apple and took a bite out of it, talking while chewing.

"Not every version of me was so.. so pure of heart."

He finished chewing.

"To some of us, new worlds meant only one thing. New lands to be conquered."

The image shifted into one sculpture of himself holding a prune stick while his other hand was up, an image of a planet floating above his hand as if he were wielding it.

"The peace between realities.." He held his hands up and made a booming noise as his hands made an explosion mimic. "..Erupted into an all out war."

The image shifted to a bunch of smaller sculptures of himself with spears and prune sticks, fighting one another.

"Each variant fighting to preserve their universe and annihilate the others." He let out a small chuckle. "This was almost the end, lady or gentleman of everything and everyone, whichever you prefer of course."

"And then the Time Keepers came and saved us all." Sylvie sarcastically added onto his story with an eye roll.

"Amen." The man sang, putting his hands together. Then he laughed. "No. No. Nope, this is where we diverge from the Dogma."

The image shifted from the fighting variants to a singular variant holding a lamp.

"That first variant discovered a creature created from all the tears in reality, capable of consuming time and space itself. A creature," He paused and leaned forward, a bit over the table. "You should know. You called my pet."

"Alioth?" Sylvie asked, not happy that his man was having her do a guessing game.

"Bingo! I harnessed the beast's power and began experimenting on it."

The image shifted to the sculpture of the man holding out his hand to the cloud like beast.

"I weaponized Alioth and I ended, I ended the Multiverse War."

The image shifted to the man surrounded by a ring. It's hand was reaching out to the ring.

"Once I isolated the timeline, all I had to do was manage the flow of time and prevent any further branches." He said. "Hence the TVA. Hence the Time Keepers and a highly effective bureaucracy."

He began standing on his desk, pulling himself up as he spoke.

"Hence ages and ages of cosmic harmony! Hence-" He dropped down to a squat and stared Sylvie in the eyes. "Your welcome."

He clicked the device on his hand and the image disappeared into sparks, mimicking how someone would turn to sparks of they were pruned.

"You came to kill the devil, right?"

He laughed and hopped down, sitting on the desk again like he started out.

"Well guess what? I keep you safe. And if you think I'm evil, well, just wait till you meet my variants."

Sylvie remained silent, glancing to the empty chairs next to her, as if there was a small angel Wanda to her left and a little devil Loki to her right whispering things in her ears like in Midgardian cartoons.

"Annnnnnd that's the gambit! Stifling order or cataclysmic chaos." He laughed, hopping off the desk once more to journey back around to his chair. "You may hate the dictator, but something," He let out a breath. "far worse is goinna fill the void if you dispose of him."

He adjusted himself and leaned into his desk, his arms stretching to prove a point.

"I've lived millions of lifetimes. I've gone through every scenario. This is the only way."

Sylvie shook her head as he spoke, not liking anything that he was claiming.

"The TVA, it works."

"Or, you're a liar." Sylvie replied, glaring at him.

He propped his head up on his hand, his arm on the desk.

"Or I'm a liar." He repeated.

"Just pruning innocent timelines."

"Mmmmmhmmmm. You would."

Sylvie cocked her head to the side as he lifted his head.

"There's two options." He said in a game show tone of voice. "One: kill me and destroy all this, so you don't just have one devil, you have an infinite amount. Or! You, your friends, you could run the thing."

Sylvie narrowed her eyes.

"Your lying." She stated. "Why would you give up the control you have? Especially if you apparently worked so hard to get it."

He Who Remains sighed.

"Well, I'm tired. And I'm older. I'm older than I look. This game is for the young, the hungry. I've gone through a lot of scenarios, trying to find the right person to take this spot. Then I finally found them, but turns out they're stronger in a trio. But they definitely had one. And it's you."

Sylvie gripped her sword. Part of her wondered how different the conversation would be if Wanda and or Loki were here with her. How they would react to such a request.

Loki would want to rule. Isn't that all he ever wanted? Wanda.. Wanda would rather rule than kill. They would both be against her on this. It was good that Sylvie came alone.

"So, no more lies. You kill me and the Sacred Timeline is completely exposed. Multiversal war. Or, you take over and return to the TVA as it's benevolent ruler! Tell the workforce who they are and why they do what they do."

Sylvie shook her head, a pitiful look on her face.

"You treat real people's lives like some kind of game." She said.

"It's not personal, it's practical."

"It was personal to me."

"Oh grow up! Grow up Sylvie! Murderer! Hypocrite!"

Sylvie lifted her chin as a glare reformed on her face.

"We're both villains here." He said. "We've both done horrible, terrible, horrific things. But now we, you, have a chance to do them for a good reason."

He stopped talking as a faint rumbling sound in the distance occured, like the sound of a storm approaching.

He sat up slightly and his face grew into a look of slight fear and worry.

"We've just crossed the threshold." He stated, his voice quieter than it had been before.

Then his look of worry became a small grin and he laughed softly before looking back at Sylvie.

"So I fibbed. I fibbed earlier when I said I know how everything's going to go. I.. I know.. I knew.." He laughed again. "Everything up to a certain point.. and that point was about.."

He paused for a moment as if he was counting.

"Seven, eight, nine, ten- seconds ago. But now I have no idea. No idea how the rest of this is going to go."

Out side of the window behind him, the white magical line in his office began shaping outwords, like the timeline was branching in all sorts of directions.

"I being candid." He said before giving another half of a laugh.

"So you're just going to sit there and let me decide your fate?" Sylvie asked.

"Pretty much." He shrugged. "I mean what's the worst that can happen?"

"Don't." Sylvie stopped him before he could go off on another tangent about his variants. "It's just another lie, another manipulation."

"Oh. No lie." The man said. "No manipulation."

Faint thunder was heard in the distance and Sylvie glanced towards the window behind the man as more branches appeared on the magical line outside.

He Who Remains looked at his hand and pulled off the device on it. He sat it down carefully on his desk.

"Wow. I love this. All this honesty." He said, resting his head down on the desk and staring at the Tempad.

Sylvie jumped out of her seat and pushed the table aside with ease. She wasn't at the TVA. She had her goddess strength. Loki and Wanda had left her mind, this was her choice. She was going to kill him.

He Who Remains laughed excitedly at Sylvie's stalkish glare upon him as he heard his table crash into the bookshelf to the left.

"Aren't you gonna beg for your life?" Sylvie asked.

"Um.. Could, could." He said.

Sylvie grabbed him by the throat and plunged her sword into his chest, staring him dead in the eyes as she did so.

He gave one last dead beat laugh, staring right back at her.

"I'll see you soon." He said as the life inside him bled out.

Sylvie pulled the sword from his chest and stood, speechless for a moment.

Her entire life led up to this moment. She killed the man behind it all. She'd won. But she wasn't happy. Why? This couldn't have all been for nothing.

Right?

Sylvie walked towards the window, bloody sword in hand. The looked out at the white magic that resembled the timeline. Countless colors spurred from it as it diverged into different branches.

Sylvie let out a shaky breath.

What had she done, exactly?

—-------

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Wanda and Loki walked together happily through the halls, seeing some tables on fire, seeing many guards walking through, looking very baffled. Wanda didn't think she would be happy to see all of this destroyed, but it was quite relieving.

B-15 and Mobius we're in one of the main rooms, making sure everyone knew the truth now, which it seems they did.

However, things started to glitch.

Wanda and Loki turned as a hunter that had been guarding Renslayer suddenly appeared standing. He didn't seem concerned though, he just gave a nod to the two and started walking.

"What-?" Loki murmured.

Then, more odd things began happening.

The library section reformed itself, soldiers began reappearing, and the walls on the TVA began shifting.

Suddenly, Wanda let out a shriek.

Loki snapped his head around and saw Wanda grasping her head.

"What- Wanda?"

Wanda fell on her knees, still gripping her hair.

"What's wrong?!?" Loki asked, dropping next to her.

"Get.. get me out… get me out of here.. now. Now!" Wanda managed to say.

"Oh- okay." Loki said.

There was a Tempad lying on the ground, multiple actually. So Loki quickly grabbed it and casted a time door, not bothering to check the location. He picked up Wanda, who was still holding her head tightly, and carried her out, the door behind them closing as he did.

They appeared in an empty medical room, one that was definitely Midgardian. It looked like it had been just cleaned, but then closed.

The windows were shut and the only thing giving them light was a lamp that for some reason hadn't been turned off.

Loki set Wanda on one of the beds and put his hand on her forehead. It was definitely burning up, or maybe he was cold. Either way, it didn't feel natural.

"It burns." Wanda cried, still pressing her hands into her head.

"Wanda, what happened? Tell me and I'll fix it." Loki urged, not liking to see her in pain.

"I-" Wanda started to speak, but the words left her mouth. "It's- it's like.. uh." She winced at the pain as she spoke. "It's like my brain was trying to.. to rewrite itself."

"Rewrite itself?"

"Yeah. I- I don't know how to explain it."

Wanda's grip on her head loosened and slid down to her neck. Her legs were pulled against her chest and she stared at the wall behind Loki, unable to look at Loki directly.

"It hurts so much." She whispered, her head shaking just the slightest.

"Whoever did this to you, I'll kill them." Loki stated, his tone no longer soft.

Wanda didn't reply, she just faced the wall.

"Do you need water? Midgardian medicine? I'm sure I can find it in here." Loki said, putting a hand on hers.

"Ice. Please." Wanda said.

Loki nodded and stood up, going over to where a small freezer was at the corner of the room. There was a small box with plastic bags in it, and when he opened the freezer, there was a large bucket of ice that he quickly put into one of the bags for Wanda.

He brought it back to her and she put it on her head, trying to keep herself from burning up more.

"Thank you." She said after a few moments passed.

Loki just nodded.

Before either of them could say anything else, that is, if they were to say something else, the door to the room opened and a lady shrieked at the people in the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Wanda immediately jumped up, the ice packet falling from her hand as the pain in her head seemed less concerning now.

"SECURITY!" The woman shouted.

"I'm sorry! We're leaving! We're leaving!" Wanda said.

Loki immediately pushed the woman out of the way and took Wanda's hand, pulling her out of the hospital room. The two ran throughout the hospital, looking for the exit.

As they ran, more nurses and doctors noticed them and shouted at them, two specific ones shouting.

"It's the witch!"
"It's the demon of mischief!"

Wanda and Loki both glanced at those two as they ran.

"Well that's unkind." Loki scoffed before continuing his running.

The two finally made it out of the building and Wanda grabbed Loki's shirt from the back before he could run into traffic since he forgot to slow down.

Many civilians looked at them with concern and a few, fear.

"We have to get out of here." Loki muttered to her.

"This is Scotland. Come on, I know a place." Wanda said, taking his hand and pulling him away.

The pain in her head was still there, but with the sudden action, it had faded and now Wanda's concern was in getting them away.

A long while ago, her and Vision had shared a place here. Before Thanos had shown up and changed everything. Quite rude to be honest.

Loki on the other hand, was trying to figure out what everything was since the last time he was in Midgard was when he was in New York, trying to take it over. He didn't know this place though.

Wanda brought him into a darkened alley and he gave a confused look.

"And we're here… Why?"

Wanda put her hands on his.

"Trust me. This may feel weird."

A red magic swirled around the two, then they both vanished.

They reappeared in a bedroom that thankfully was deserted. The covers were messy though so someone clearly did live here.

Wanda pulled Loki out of the room and they arrived in a long hallway.

"What is this place?" Loki asked, confused.

"I used to live here. It's an apartment building. Not your fancy castle, but better than a crowded street."

Wanda noticed that she was still holding Loki's hand, and she let go of him, trying to be discreet and as un-awkward as she could.

"Why didn't you teleport us earlier?" Loki asked as they walked down the hall.

"I didn't want to startle the civilians." Wanda replied.

As they walked, orange sparks began forming in front of them.

Immediately, they assumed it was the TVA and Loki formed his daggers while Wanda readied magic in her hands, the pain in her head returning as soon as she did.

But instead of a door appearing, a magical circle appeared, and a man with a goatee and a red cloak walked through.

"Loki Odinson, Wanda Maximoff." He nodded to the two of them.

Neither of them moved their weapons or magic.

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I'd like to have a word with the both of you."

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My favorite quote of this chapter: "Stifling order or cataclysmic chaos."