"Helen! Come back!"
Loki called symbolically, and after about a minute, Helen finally ran back.
By this time, from Sylvie herself to this spacious office, everything had transitioned from high-tech cyber style to a dilapidated wasteland style.
Originally, Sylvie was wearing a regular T-shirt and jeans, along with a dark jacket and a pair of goggles everyone here often wore.
Now, her jacket had turned into tattered strips of cloth, half of her jeans were missing, and her goggles were completely shattered.
She stood there in disarray, like a madwoman who had just escaped from a mental hospital.
Helen jumped onto Loki with a 'swoosh', about to show off her actions, when she noticed that Loki was not in a good state.
He was lost in his past, in a daze.
In fact, before being taken away by the Time Management Bureau, his mental state could not be said to be healthy. As Odin had said, he was in a state of restlessness, even unusually refusing to give face to Frigga.
And when Sylvie mentioned that dark day again, the scenes of that day replayed in Loki's mind like a movie on a loop. Every detail kept playing back.
This was a compulsive behavior he couldn't control. The more he remembered, the sadder he became, the sadder he became, the less he could control himself.
Sylvie, in her messy state, rushed up but didn't get too close because Helen was like an evil dragon guarding its treasure, baring its fangs, ready to bite Sylvie another six hundred times.
Sylvie took a deep breath, quietly put her hand on her waist, and looked at Loki, saying, "I'm different from you, I'm no longer a failure, no longer a tagalong circling around my family."
"Loki, why don't you understand that from the moment they abandoned you, you had no home..." There was a hint of pain in Sylvie's countenance. At this moment, the exact same scene was swirling in both Loki's heads.
Loki's focus flickered, his eyes landing on Sylvie's face. This female Loki was not as pure and holy as he had imagined, nor as glamorous and noble, she was quite different from Hela.
Hela was once the jewel on Asgard's crown, even when defeated and imprisoned, she still carried an inherent nobility and pride. When she took Loki's form in her quest to seize Loki, she was as formidable as Thor and even more akin to Odin than Prince Thor.
But Sylvie, who was born a princess, she now has an air of weather-beaten hardship; from the corner of her eyes to her eyebrows, wrinkles show an elapse of time beyond her years. The torment brought about by these hard years of wanderings is no less than that dark day.
When one knows they no longer have a home, anything they do requires an effort a thousand times greater than others, because they know that there will never be a place again that can accept their failure.
After coming to his senses, Loki bent down to put Helen down, then slowly walked up, instinctively extended his fingertips to touch the corner of Sylvie's eyes, and started to speak.
"You're right, every Loki has been abandoned. Even if Odin hadn't said those words, the moment he realized that he wasn't as valued as Thor, he was abandoned..."
"You're both lucky and unlucky." Loki's fingertips began to tremble slightly, Sylvie slowly turned her eyes to look at his hand.
"After that day, you were taken away by the Time Management Bureau and left Asgard behind forever. You think there's nothing wrong with that, after all, you were never going to be accepted there anyway. You'd prefer to be a mercenary than to be a princess of Asgard."
"At the same time, while traveling through timelines, you encountered numerous Lokis. You despised them for currying favor just to get love, seeming pitiful, and never being able to be as independent and free as you..."
Loki slowly put down his hand, and Sylvie fell silent. After a while, he spoke again: "You're different from all the Lokis I've met. You're the first one to talk about it so calmly."
"In the past, every time I mentioned that day to any Loki, they would attack me like they were insane and start using sharp words to cover up their panicked hearts."
"They were a horde of madmen who were utterly incapable of having a rational conversation, and their behavior right now only proves I'm right. If you choose to be a dog, then all you could do is bark..."
Sylvie raised an eyebrow, her eyes filled with mockery. She continued to speak: "That's why I say I'm not Loki. I'm not a dog and never will be!"
Loki slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled, trying hard to regain his calm. He looked at Sylvie and said: "Do you know why I said you're unlucky?"
Sylvie silently stared at him, completely confident that he wouldn't be able to come up with a reasonable answer, not showing any signs of panic. But after Loki glanced at the ground, he looked up at Sylvie again and said.
"Do you think there's no one left who loves you in this world?" Loki asked.
Sylvie sneered, "Not just me, all of the Lokis are like this. Who would love them?"
"Alright, alright... You mean Frigga. But do you think she doesn't know about the decision Odin made? Or Thor? Or your friends in Asgard?"
"If they all knew, then why did none of them stand by your side? Why did they accept all of this with calmness, or even joy?"
Sylvie's eyes were cold and mocking, as was her tone.
"They all knew it would hurt you. They all knew that it would hurt like hell when this knife plunges into your chest, yet everyone stands there, even cheering... Loki, wake up, they don't love you... "
Loki puts his eyelids down and speaks.
"Let's make a bet, shall we?"
"What do you want to bet on?" Sylvie's expression even showed a hint of pity. She thought Loki had nothing to stake because she had no demands.
"If I win, you have to follow me back to the Time Management Bureau and help them on the day the director returns, just as they helped you. And if I lose, you can make me do anything..."
Loki's temperament gradually sharpened, his gaze upon Sylvie filled with determination. Sylvie was utterly clueless about where his confidence came from.
She then turned and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, speaking with a mocking tone, "Why should I bet with you? What's your worth? You've always been useless. I'm stronger than all of you now!"
"If that is true, then you wouldn't be hiding in this building..." Loki slowly revealed a smile, "Actually, you fear the director finding you more than anyone in the Time Management Bureau. You know he won't let you go. You have the secret he wants, and you have... no way to fight him..."
"Now, the one needing protection is you, because, you are the most unique among all Lokis... "
"You are pleased with your wayward journey and feel that no Loki can be freer than you. However, when you face a powerful enemy, you suddenly realize that you have nothing to rely on, and can only hide here waiting for death... "
"Do you think you're better than me?" Sylvie turned back around, her eyebrows tightly furrowed. She gritted her teeth and spoke, "Ragnarok will eventually arrive someday. At that time, you'll be the first one to be abandoned."
"But at least countless Asgardians will fight for it. Even if they're not fighting for me, I'm not alone."
Loki walked up close to Sylvie, looked into her eyes and said, "Even if I am the first to die in battle, Asgard won't forget my achievements... "
Sylvie slowly turned her head to one side, because she knew what Loki said was true. In this aspect, Asgard would not discriminate. If a warrior dies in a charge for Asgard, his death will be honorable, no matter who he is or what he has done.
"And you, you can only quietly fall on this ruined planet." Loki gently shook his head, "No one knew you before you died, and after you die, no one will remember you... "
Sylvie stared at Loki, but Loki didn't pressure her further. Instead, he took two steps back and said, "Even if I am a stray dog, at least I have evidence that I once existed. Even if what the history books leave isn't a good reputation, it's a record that I had been there."
"You think you have nothing to worry about, so you fear nothing... But are you really unafraid? Are you really not afraid to die on a quiet night where no one remembers you, no one cares about you, you took nothing with you and left nothing behind, as if you have never existed in this world?"
While Loki was saying these words, Sylvie involuntarily looked at Helen. When she saw Helen, who just attacked her, her eyes were not filled with complete anger but rather a kind of confusion and daze.
"If you make this bet and I lose, I will swear by the name of Asgard to fight for you. Even if in the end, we still can't defeat the enemy, at least, you will not die alone."
Sylvie's lips moved slightly; she fell silent for a few minutes, then finally asked, "How do you want to bet?"
"Just like the question I asked you before. You think no one in this world loves you, but my view is different from yours. So, shall we bet on this?"
Unexpectedly, Sylvie looked up at him. At first, she let out a cold sneer of victory, as if she was certain of her triumph. But soon after, her eyes filled with a sense of melancholy. Clearly, even if she was right, there was nothing to be complacent about.
"I'll bet with you, but how will you prove it?"
Loki turned his gaze to the hand that Sylvie was touching on her waist. He said, "Before I came, Mobius told me that he had given you a machine that can travel freely through time."
"Take this machine and go back to your universe, to its current timeline. See what has happened there, the answer is there..."
"No..." Sylvie began to clench her teeth, but Loki remained firm. He approached Sylvie again, and Sylvie retreated step by step, until she was backed against the floor-to-ceiling window with nowhere to run.
"Let's see if this formidable Miracle Lady, who has been ruling on a forsaken planet, has truly been pursuing freedom for many years and disdains coming home, as she claims..."
Loki's eyes held a malicious smile, like any other Lokis Sylvie had encountered, he taunted her provocatively.
"Or is it actually, this self-important stray dog, dares not return home?"