His Little Shooting Star [2]

The Blame Game

~~~Linda's pov~~~

After passing out for the second time in twenty-four hours, I blissfully dreamt of nothing. Absolutely nothing.

No new visions, no images of my father being tortured into submission, no anything.

I think it's safe to say it was an improvement.

I wasn't out for long, as I quickly felt myself start to come to.

Upon opening my eyes, I saw that I was still in my dad's arms. The feeling of being close to him made me smile, which in turn made him realize I was awake.

"Hey," He gave me a small smile, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "Welcome back to the land of the living. How do you feel?"

"Not great, but better than before," I answered meekly, trying hard to think about anything other than what I had seen. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"I wasn't scared. Just concerned is all." He shook his head. "We weren't expecting this to happen so soon, and it took us by surprise."

And that's when I remembered something else.

"Where's Mom?" I asked quickly, thinking back to what happened in the evidence room. "Is she okay?"

I saw the panic on her face as she watched me turn. But I had no idea how she reacted after I was encased in the rock.

"She's fine. She left to work on something to get us back to the present TVA."

I'm sorry, what?

I stared at him, eyes wide with confusion at his use of telepathy. "How did you just-"

"This is a past TVA where magic can be used. Convenient, isn't it?"

I nodded slowly, trying to comprehend this. "So, they don't have the magic blockers in place yet. Then this must be the very beginnings of the TVA because the blockers were installed within the first few centuries." I murmured quietly.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I learned my way around restricted files within a few months of being stuck there. I found a bunch of stuff pertaining to the beginning of the TVA, employees' past timelines and lives, TVA technology, etc. Even with all that research, I never did find out how to disable the blockers..." I explained, nuzzling my head further into his chest, thinking about some of the things I heard when I was unconscious the first time.

...all I do is hurt her...

...she suffered for years here, and that's on me...

His words echoed in my head as I looked up at him sadly. "You know it's not your fault, right?"

"What?"

"Me being stuck here isn't your fault." I elaborated on my point.

Dad smiled sadly but shook his head. "We can agree to disagree on that point."

"But I don't want you to blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault." I frowned. "I'm the one who ran to grab the necklace. You saved me. If you hadn't stepped in, I would've died. And yeah, the TVA never would've shown up, but I wouldn't be alive. It all worked out." I let out a small yawn, my eyes beginning to get heavy, and I felt him wrap his arms around me tighter, pulling me closer.

I don't know why I became so tired all of a sudden. I guess those visions took more out of me than I thought.

"You were still alone all this time. I can't even begin to imagine..." He trailed off, voice quiet. "Listen, that's on me. The last thing I want is for you to blame yourself for my poor choices. Now, get some sleep."

"Not until you promise me you'll stop thinking it's your fault." I fought to keep my eyes open, needing to hear him say it.

He genuinely smiled this time and chuckled. "How's this? I'll stop saying it's my fault."

"Good enough." I relented, settling for the answer.

"I just wish I had been there for you..." He sighed.

"You were. I survived because of you." I mumbled the last part. I didn't want him to know about that. Not yet. "Can you please sing to me? It helps me sleep." I asked, looking up at him sleepily.

Back before the TVA, I used to love it when he sang me that Asgardian lullaby. It always made me feel so safe and loved when he would sing.

"Of course." He smiled softly and started to sing.

I stormsvarte fjell jeg vandrer alene
Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem
I eplehagen står møyen den vene
Og synger: når kommer du hjem

I smiled weakly as I dozed off, snuggling into him as he ran his fingers through my hair, and the world slowly darkened around me.