It was a relief to have her willing to at least discuss it. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was no right choice at all. Freedom seemed like the right thing, which was why it was hard to disagree with Sylvie, and yet there were reasons why certain actions had been taken. He was prince of realms that had prospered on the blood of many and he was not ignorant of what had given him what he had. What he had once had.
Loki looked to He Who Remains, who sat, amused as ever, though clearly agitated at their lack of a swifter decision.
“I agree,” Loki said, “but he will have to give us the power even if we don’t do with it what he expects. He must have some influence on the timeline himself else why would killing him make any difference? Perhaps it would stop the isolation of this timeline. He is protecting this reality from reintegrating into the multiverse, not just preventing more branches.” It dawned on Loki then that his idea of compromise rested only in this man’s hands.
He Who Remains chuckled. “And there you have it. That is why there are only two options. Tend my garden or down go its walls. You will protect what I have made or you’re on your own.” He spread his palms and grinned.
Sylvie glared hard at He Who Remains, a truly hateful look in her eyes for the first time that day. She’d been angry, yes, but she hadn’t quite looked like this. “No,” she gritted out, lifting her sword to point it toward him. “You put us in this predicament, you don’t get to talk. This is up to me and him.” She gestured toward Loki with a toss of her head. “One more word and I cut out your tongue.” Violent, yes, but light compared to what she really wanted to do to him.
She looked back to Loki then, taking a shaky breath as she tried to calm herself. She couldn’t think with anger just then. She couldn’t afford to.
“You heard him,” she began then. “Two options- kill him and free the timelines, or become him ourselves. We can’t settle for either of those things. I won’t settle for either of them. There has to be something else, something we’re missing...”
The Goddess started to pace, stressed and unsure of everything she’d wanted up until that moment. Well, not everything, but most things. So what to do with He Who Remains? He couldn’t stay free, and he couldn’t die, so what could be done with him that would allow them to...?
“We lock him up,” she said with wide eyes, turning to look at Loki as she stopped as if on a dime. “His power still runs everything, but we take over. Everything comes down from us. And we reprogram Miss Minutes so she can’t keep doing his dirty work.”
That would be enough for her- enough of a start, anyway. They could continue making changes from there, until the Universe was free.