"You? Friends. This ought to be a sight for sore eyes."

Loki replied to Sylvie, who returned his comment with a scoff.

"Yeah. They're basically family, mind you." Sylvie stated.

"Ignore him." Wanda said, moving between the two, facing Loki. "Tempad, please."

Loki rolled his eyes and gave her the device, to which she turned around and handed to Sylvie.

"So am I going too or will I be stuck babysitting again?" Wong asked.

Wanda jumped, forgetting he was in the room since he'd been so quiet.

"Well America is coming, so it's up to you." Strange replied.

America did an internal cheer, which matched her hand motion of pulling a fist down.

"Finally." She said, very glad she would finally be involved.

She had the power to help everyone! There was no reason why she shouldn't be involved. Especially since she learned she had super strength and flight. She was like Steve Rogers and Ironman combined into one! But female and a teenager.

"I'll stay. Once you get the gauntlet, it's likely that Kang will notice and he could send guards here. We need to be ready." Wong said.

Strange nodded and called his cloak back to him.

"Take these." He said, gesturing for him to take the stones from the cloak.

Wong gave a nod and summoned a small portal that was faced horizontally. The cloak dumped the six stones into the portal, then flew around Strange before resting on his shoulders.

"See you when we get back." Strange said.

Sylvie casted a time door and the five walked through, Wong watching the door shut behind them.

"Wooooooooahhh." Were the first words spoken from the group, America specifically.

"You can say that again." Wanda said, her eyes sparkling as she looked out at the grand castle in front of her.

"Seems less exciting than I remember." Loki commented.

"You'll see why in a bit." Sylvie said, a small grin on her face.

"What do you mean by that?"

Sylvie didn't reply to him, she only handed him the Tempad back. Loki gave a confused look, but the only one who could answer his question was walking away.

Strange nodded his head at the sight, but by the looks of it, he was mostly focused on the mission, and he followed Sylvie.

The group made their way to the golden castle.

Loki glanced around, pointing out many differences from what he remembered. Wanda and America wandered in the back of the group, admiring the castle from afar and only growing more excited as they walked.

Strange and Sylvie seemed to be the only ones unbothered.

"What time period did you send us too?" Loki asked, quickening his pace to match Sylvie's.

"Relax, nothing is wrong here." Sylvie assured him.

"See you saying that doesn't help my nerves." Loki replied.

Sylvie rolled her eyes and turned to Strange, who was staring down the castle, not allowing himself to be caught up in the sights.

"Is he always this annoying?" She asked him.

"Yes." Strange replied without hesitation.

"Now that's a bit rude." Loki scoffed.

"I'm not wrong though." Strange said, glancing to the two.

The three stopped their banter when a figure appeared on one of the balconies that showed in the front of the castle.

"There she is." Sylvie smiled.

"Who? Sif?" Loki asked, very confused.

"Will you shut up?" Sylvie glared at him before returning her gaze to the woman who had jumped off of the balcony and was now falling in style towards them.

She landed gracefully on the pathway, and she moved her black hair out of her face.

"Meet my sort of sister, Hela." Sylvie introduced her.

"Hela?" Loki and Strange said at the same time.

Wanda and America noticed the new person and they quickly sped up, joining the group.

"Hello." Wanda said eagerly.

America did an even worse job at hiding her excitement.

"Hi!" She said giddily.

"So who are these guys?" Hela asked, giving them all a once over and a bit of a judging look.

"Uh... I'd say one of them I like, one I tolerate, and two children. Aside from them, I need the gauntlet back." Sylvie said.

Hela cocked her head and a bit of a worried expression grew on her face.

"It's only been a few days. I thought you said this was a highly dangerous item that needed to be hidden?" She said.

She gestured for them to follow as she and Sylvie spoke with one another.

"Yeah, it still is. The guy who it originally belonged to is making an army and so we're going to trap him, but we need the gauntlet as bait." Sylvie explained.

"Why can't you just kill him?" Hela summoned a long sword to exaggerate the 'kill him'.

"I wish we could, but another version of him would come into the world and take over, putting us in the same situation." Sylvie replied.

"Someone who doesn't truly die, I can respect that. Sounds like a pain in the ass, however." Hela sympathized.

"Precisely."

"So can I help after I get you guys the gauntlet?" Hela asked.

"Why? Isn't your whole thing death? That's what we're not going for." Strange said, cutting in.

Hela gave a glare to him before explaining herself.

"Well you said he has an army, can't I kill them? Or will they all respawn too?" Hela asked, unsummoning her sword.

Strange glanced over to Loki and Loki shrugged.

"The other ones we've killed haven't respawned so I think having an extra god on hand would be helpful." Loki said.

"So then I'll join! Odin hasn't been letting me do much of anything recently after Fenris turned the great hall into his personal play pin." Hela sighed.

"That would've been fun to see." Sylvie chuckled.

"Hela.. I swear I've heard your name before." Loki mumbled to himself.

"Well I am destined to be the queen of Asgard. If you're from the future that Sylvie is from, perhaps I'm the queen there too." Hela said with a smile, brushing her hair behind her shoulder.

Loki narrowed his eyes, then he realized.

While he'd never experienced Ragnarok, he did read the TVA files on it. Hela was one of the main contributers to the fall of this land.

"Yeah that must be it." He nodded.

The group walked inside of the palace. Wanda and America immediately fell in love with the view while the rest of them continued on like it was an average day, which for them it was.

"Let's make this quick." Strange mumbled.

A woman walked in, one who Wanda recognized as the woman that Mobius claimed Loki killed.

"Ah Hela, I see you have guests. Welcome again Sylvie." Frigga smiled.

Loki stopped short, his eyes falling on the woman, his mother. Wanda's excited face fell, not wanting this to become too weird. She moved next to Loki for support, not knowing how he would feel at the moment.

Frigga noticed his stare on her and she tilted her head a bit, trying to figure out if she recognized him.

"Hello." She said kindly to him.

"Uh.. Hi." Loki said before trying to look anywhere but her face. At the same time, he didn't want to seem rude since she was the current queen.

"Hello, er- your majesty. I'm Wanda, um it's an honor to meet you." Wanda said, a smile forming on her face as the queen turned towards her.

America moved in front of her and gave big puppy eyes, full of excitement as she looked at the woman.

"Hi! I'm uh, I'm America Chavez, I've heard so much about you." She said giddily.

Wanda put her hand on Loki's back and Loki managed to snap out of the trance he put himself into. Wanda's instinct was to use her magical empathy to settle his nerves, but the moment she did, her fingers began burning and she winced, quickly stopping so she wouldn't draw attention.

"So what brings you here?" Frigga asked once the introductions we're over.

"I'm just here to get back the gauntlet, these guys tagged along." Sylvie answered.

"Ah, well why don't you stay for supper? Your younger friend here seems she enjoys the place, and we can talk more on the subject of why you need the gauntlet back and what might be troubling you. Is something happening in any of the other realms?" Frigga asked.

"Midgard, but yeah." Strange added.

"And you shouldn't turn down an invite for a dinner at Asgard. They'd love to join us for supper." Hela answered for all of them.

"Wonderful! Sunset is occuring soon so please, make yourselves at home." Frigga said with a kind smile before leaving the room.

Hela turned back to them once her mother was gone.

"She's gonna want me to get all dressed up. Sylvie, come on. The grand table and dinning hall are just through those doors." She said, pointing to the right of the room.

She took Sylvie's hand and walked off in the other direction, leaving America, Strange, Wanda, and Loki to figure out what to do.

"I'm gonna go explore." America said with a grin.

"No you're not." Strange cut her off. "It's bad enough we're wasting time, staying for dinner, we don't need to be running around and risk messing up anything."

"When have I ever 'messed up anything'?" America asked, crossing her arms.

"Well I know my way around the castle, so I'll see the three of you at supper." Loki said with an innocent smile before turning around.

"No. You're not leaving either, especially not here. I saw how you looked at Frigga, we don't need emotions running around either." Strange said.

Wanda turned and glared at Strange.

"You don't know what he's been through. Don't say things like that." She stated, anger in her tone.

"I'm not diminishing any sad feelings, I'm just saying we need to stay focused." Strange said, his voice calm in hopes of keeping Wanda calm.

"Well we shouldn't just stay here, we look like very visible outsiders who live in a completely different century. Let's at least go to the dinning room." She said.

"Fine." Strange sighed.

He turned towards the door on the right, America following behind him as he walked. Wanda turned around to face Loki, who was running his hands through his hair with a sigh.

"You alright?" She asked, her voice more gentle than it had been a moment before.

"I'll survive. I just need to figure out how I'm going to survive the family reunion with a family who doesn't know me yet." He replied.

"Let's go to the dinning room then, I know what happened to your mom, I'll won't leave your side." Wanda assured him.

Loki moved his hands down and a bit of a glimmer formed in his gaze.

"Follow me, I want to show you something." He said.

"What?"

Before Wanda got an answer, Loki turned and began speed walking away. Wanda turned to the dinning room door entrance, then back at Loki. She gave an annoyed groan before hurrying after the raven haired god.

She followed him through the halls, which somehow weren't as confusing to walk through as the TVA halls were. Probably because these were larger and had less turns. It was mostly a straight line with doors on either side.

Loki walked through one of the doors and Wanda hurried over to him, walking in behind him.

The room was bland, golden walls and boxes here and there. If this were back on earth, cobwebs would be everywhere. The room was pretty large though, and there were two doors that weren't the exit doors.

"Why are we in here?" Wanda asked, looking around.

"This is my room, well, will be my room in the future." Loki replied.

"Ah. I'm sure it looks better in the future."

"It does."

He walked towards one of the other doorways and opened it, gesturing for Wanda to follow him, which she did.

They walked out onto a balcony, one that gave Wanda an amazing view of the golden city below. Her eyes widened as she neared the edge, putting her hands on the rails as she looked out, ignoring the slight pain in the burns that the pressure put on it.

"I can't believe you lived here. This place is amazing." She awed.

"Well, it gets old after hundreds of years of the same view." Loki replied, moving next to her and leaning on the rails.

"I suppose that's true. But if I could live here for a century, I'd take that offer." She said.

In the distance of the city, the faded blue lights that painted the sky began to shimmer into an orange view, but there was no sun.

"So how come you guys call it sunsets if there are no suns?" She asked.

"Other gods in other worlds called it sunsets and we took the name." Loki replied simply.

Wanda chuckled at his response, finding it a bit humorous that the great Odin took the name from another person.

Loki looked at Wanda as she gazed out at the city. Her eyes sparkled in the dimming sky. She turned to look at him, only for them to lock eyes.

Their faces moved closer to one another and their lips touched, pressing against the other. A smile formed on Wanda's face and Loki felt her lips moving.

Wanda moved her face back, just an inch and she looked Loki in the eyes.

"Would we be delaying dinner, well supper, if we stayed out here a moment longer?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"They can wait." Loki replied before resuming their kiss.

--------------------

Many minutes later, Loki and Wanda were on their way back from the balcony. They walked quickly towards the dinning hall, hoping they weren't too late.

They made it to the great hall, the entry room, and it still looked like folks were walking around, meaning the main meal hadn't started yet, thankfully.

Frigga appeared again, walking out of the room that was to the front, the way that Wanda and Loki didn't go. She approached the two with a smile.

"Wanda, could I speak with you?" She asked, her voice calm.

Wanda knew it would be rude to turn down a goddess's request, especially if that goddess was a queen.

"Uh, yeah. Of course."

She gave a glance to Loki, who's hair was a bit messier than it had been when he was in this room earlier. Loki gave a small nod to the women before exiting, going towards the dinning hall.

"Is there something wrong?" Wanda asked, turning her attention to Frigga.

"No, of course not dear. I just wanted to clarify something." The queen replied.

Wanda didn't say anything, giving her the chance to clarify whatever she needed.

"You are a witch, are you not? The Scarlet Witch from the myths?"

She certainly didn't expect that. Wanda froze for a moment before gulping and giving a nod.

"Um, yes. Yes I am the, uh, Scarlet Witch." She said, her voice lower. "How, um-, did you know?"

"I was raised by witches, I learned many tricks. May I see your hands?"

Wanda gave another internal gulp and she raised her hands, which were red and bruised from the burns. Frigga examined her hands for a moment before taking them in her own hands.

A faint glow of light appeared around the two's hands, circling them for a moment. Wanda felt a tingling sensation in her fingers and her eyes widened as the burns faded and only left small scars on her hands.

Frigga let go of her hands and Wanda lifted them, looking at her healed palms and fingers.

"I- thank you!"

She formed red particles in her hands, receiving no pain or burns, causing a wide grin to form on her face.

"It was my pleasure." Frigga gave a kind smile.

"But.. why? You don't know me..?" Wanda asked, confused at the gesture of kindness.

"Two reasons. For Loki. I do not know him yet, but I do know he will play a great part in my future, just as he's playing a part in your present. He's going to need the Scarlet Witch. I'm trusting you to keep him safe. Protect him."

Wanda lowered her hands, worried at the amount of trust the queen was putting in her right now.

"And the other reason?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"The Scarlet Witch will play a vital role in our universe, even if it's not in my time. You could either rule the world, or destroy it. I believe you could save the world as well, from this threat that I intend to know about during our dinning. You can't save anyone for too long with your powers restricted."

Wanda froze again, unsure on how to react.

"Oh." Was all she managed to say.

Frigga's serious attitude became more lighthearted and she began walking towards the dinning room, Wanda walking next to her.

"But don't worry about that currently, you are young and have a grand future ahead of you. Do not fear about your destiny."

Yeah. She says that now.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

My favorite quote of this chapter: "I'd say one of them I like, one I tolerate, and two children."