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Mobius doesn’t let his emotions get twisted up with his responsibilities as an analyst. He always keeps a steady head and fights the good fight. For all time. He’s learned the hard way what happens when he lets his emotions get tangled up with his assignments. But now? When his feelings and his duties so neatly align?
Ravonna had tried to warn him. That he was getting too focused on Lokis in general, too close to this Variant in particular. She didn’t know the half of it and Mobius was grateful for that. If she knew what he’d done… What they’d done…
On top of his frustration at himself and at Loki, Mobius reels from the revelation of C-20’s death. He channels it into a greater focus on his duty. Find the Variant. Find Loki. Bring them both to the TVA’s justice.
That he might get some personal retribution by telling Loki he was a jerk for running off - for breaking Mobius’ tentative trust - is a benefit. He just has to find Loki first.
So when Loki and his Variant trigger the nexus event on Lamentis, Mobius’ heart surges in a way he knows it’s not supposed to do. He tries to take a moment to collect himself, to tamp down on the injured feelings rushing through him over how easily Loki ran out on him.
He’s still fighting to separate himself from his feelings when B-15 gives him the quick sitrep. Loki and the Variant - a female Variant, no less - had been holding hands. And in B-15’s clearly disgusted opinion, not in a friendly fashion. No, they’d been making lovesick eyes at each other and that was what had been strong enough to create a nexus event.
Mobius feels like he’s going to be sick himself.
At least until he catches sight of them. For the briefest second, anger flashes in him white-hot before he lets it go. He’s been at this too long. He knows how to hide his feelings. Or he did before Loki. Thankfully, there’s too much going on and no one notices as Mobius assumes the mask of professionalism that saves him time and time again in his role at the TVA.
It takes no effort to turn his back on the two of them. To walk ahead of them and lead them through the halls. To ignore the female Variant’s struggles against the Minutemen.
He’s not as successful in ignoring his awareness that Loki is just a few steps behind them.
A side hall opens up and Mobius makes the mistake of looking back, of thinking to check that the Minutemen have a hold of both their captives. Mobius sees the female Variant fighting to free herself, blonde hair flying around her face as she glances back to Loki. Mobius stupidly follows her desperate gaze, giving in to his own need to look at Loki.
Only to watch the open concern for the other Variant on Loki’s face, his mouth opening like he must think to protest the separation.
Mobius turns away before anyone can see the hurt in his eyes.
He should have known better. Having any interest in a Variant beyond their impact on the Sacred Timeline was well outside the scope of acceptable behavior for an agent. To fraternize with one (if Mobius lied to himself that it was only fraternization and nothing else)? Pruning would be the best he could hope for.
And to do so with a Loki? Mobius isn’t quite sure if he’s more mad at himself or Loki. Probably both equally. He knew what Lokis were like and yet he had hoped… Mobius didn’t know what exactly he’d hoped but it probably didn’t include this disappointment he felt in himself.
Loki starts struggling behind him and Mobius swallows down his bitterness at the thought that Loki is fighting to get back to that Variant.
He chokes on that bitterness as he walks them toward an empty Time Theater. “Well?”
“Well what?” comes Loki’s snapped reply.
“I know you got some quip you’re dying to say.”
“I don’t have a quip,” Loki lies. “I’ve got nothing to say to you.”
“Come on,” Mobius prods. He shouldn’t. He knows he shouldn’t. If for no other reason than the presence of the two Minutemen who will overhear everything. But if Loki really has nothing to say to him now…
“By the way, I should have an equal amount of security. This is insulting!”
Mobius can’t keep a straight face at that. Loki is insulted. Not because he’s been captured again. Not because he’s been separated from the Variant. Not because he behaved like a capital A asshole to Mobius. No, Loki is insulted because he’s being treated like the threat he isn’t. Mobius would find it hilarious if it didn’t cut so deeply.
“You just can’t help yourself,” Mobius says, as much to himself as to Loki.
“You betrayed me!”
Mobius knows Loki must be absolutely unhinged to say such a thing to him. And Mobius might be just as unhinged, giving into his pettiness as he snaps back. “You betrayed me!”
“Grow up!” comes the frustrated growl over his shoulder.
“You grow up!”
Great. Now they both sound unhinged. And juvenile. The doors of the Time Theater open and Mobius has never been so glad he planned in advance for something. He’d wanted nothing more than to find Loki after Roxxcart, but now that he has, Mobius can’t wait to get rid of him for a little while.
But on his terms this time.
“You know,” Mobius starts, strategically choosing his words. “It occurs to me that you’re not really the God of Mischief.”
“Oh, here it comes,” Loki mocks as he tries to tug himself free of the Minutemen. “The folksy dopey insult from the folksy dope.”
Mobius is glad he’s on the other side of the room. Words will hurt Loki more than physical pain ever would - not that Mobius didn’t conveniently arrange for a bit of that too. No, he lets Loki’s barb land and roll off him. The mockery can’t hurt any more than Mobius already does.
But two can play that game. Loki seems to have forgotten that.
“What am I?” Loki asks, incapable of shutting up once he starts. “The God of Self-Sabotage, yeah? The God of Backstabbing?”
Mobius would agree with both of those at the moment, but he doesn’t take Loki’s bait. If Mobius hopes to genuinely teach Loki a lesson, then he isn’t going to give Loki the satisfaction of his self-fulfilling prophecy.
His professional mask is fully in place with his TemPad in hand. He looks Loki dead in the eyes. “Just kind of an asshole. And a bad friend.”
Loki freezes, surprise clear on his face as he looks at Mobius. A precise strike, meant to do the most damage and throw Loki off. No one, not even his own mother, knows Loki like Mobius does. They both know it. With just a few words, Mobius cuts him down and lets Loki feel the way he always makes others feel.
Mobius can’t lie that he does feel the tiniest bit of perverse pleasure in hurting Loki back.
“Yeah, chew on that for a bit,” Mobius tells him. He nods at the Minutemen. “Alright, it’s ready.”
The door for the Time Cell opens and Loki balks. “What is this?” He looks back to Mobius for explanation, as though he expects Mobius to hold his hand through it.
The thought makes Mobius go numb. “You’ll see.”
Loki fights against the Minutemen for real now. Mobius almost feels sorry for him.
“Mobius!”
Mobius sighs and gives in. He should have known Loki wouldn’t go quietly after that. And part of him is dying to know what Loki will say which only feeds into his irritation. “Okay. No, no, no. Let him,” Mobius calls to stop the Minutemen. “One last desperate trick from the desperate trickster. Go ahead.”
“The TVA is lying to you.”
Mobius cannot believe what he’s hearing. Well, of course not. How did he ever believe anything Loki ever said to him? Ever whispered intimately in his ear? The TVA isn’t the one lying to him but someone in this room certainly has been. Mobius huffs a laugh. They’re both fools but at least he’s realized that. Hopefully this little exercise will give Loki the same realization.
Mobius gestures to the Time Cell door, a smile on his face. “Put him in.”
Loki stumbles through the doorway as the Minutemen unceremoniously push him through. His gaze sweeps around surroundings that are all too familiar. “What?” he murmurs.
Asgard. They’ve deposited him back in Asgard. Loki chuckles to himself. “Seriously?” These mortals must be bigger fools than he took them for if they think sending him home is any sort of punishment.
“You!”
The sharp bark from behind him makes Loki spin around. Sif stands there, a disastrous haircut spiking up from half her head - and the missing hair held tightly in her fist.
“Sif!” The sight of her after so long is such a shock that he doesn’t process the absolute fury on her face. She’s almost a welcome sight, a tangible piece of Asgard here with him.
“You conniving, craven, pathetic worm,” Sif snarls. “You did this!” She shakes the fistful of her own hair at him.
Loki glances at her hand and back to her, lost. He hasn’t done anything. Not to her. Not in ages. “What?”
It’s the wrong thing to say, apparently, as Sif slaps him hard across the face.
“Ow!” It’s more the shock of the action than any actual pain, though Sif has never held back when it came to inflicting injury - especially not when angered and definitely not when it came to Loki.
He’s still processing the slap when Sif steps closer. “I hope you know you deserve to be alone and you always will be,” she imperiously tells him.
Ah. Loki remembers this now. He remembers the prank he’d pulled and Sif’s fury. He remembers how she’d tried to hurt him by telling him a fact he’d long since stopped caring about.
Loki leans around Sif. Mobius must be watching. Isn’t he always? “Alright, a bad memory prison? How quaint.”
If he’d had the slightest idea that Mobius would let him get hurt, Loki might have braced for what he should have remembered came next. But he’s too cocky, too certain he’s got Mobius’ number. So when Sif grasps his shoulders and knees him in the crotch, Loki isn’t ready at all. He bends forward - right into Sif’s vicious right hook. It sends him to the floor, unable to do more than groan in pain as Sif stalks off.
Loki forces himself upright, trying to play off the pain. If Mobius wants a show, Loki won’t give him one. “Some punishment,” Loki calls out, confident Mobius is somewhere monitoring him. “I remember exactly what I did after that.” He gets to his feet and acts as though he’s not in pain. He’s unfortunately had a lot of practice with that. “I went and had a nice hot bath and a glass of wine and I never thought about it again, because it was just a bit of fun.”
And it had been, back then. Back when he was younger and self-centered. Well, more self-centered. Anyways, he’s not sorry for what he did to Sif. It’s only hair after all and if Sif had asked, Loki might have glamoured her to fix it while it grew out. Or made her hair fall out entirely. It would have depended on his mood.
Regardless, it is ridiculous if Mobius thinks that brief exchange with Sif would get him to repent for escaping the TVA. He doesn’t feel sorry for either thing.
“You! You conniving, craven, pathetic worm!”
Loki pivots as Sif enters again. Oh. Oh, no. He throws his hands out. “Hang on.” There will be no hanging on. His head wrenches to the side as Sif slaps him again. “Ow.”
“I hope you know you deserve to be alone and you always will be.”
He should have prepared himself that time. Should have tried to block her. He didn’t.
It hurts worse the second time, his forehead pressed to the floor as he groans. Loki closes his eyes and tries to breathe through the pain. A show. Mobius wants a show. Fine. Fine, fine, fine.
Loki has figured out the game now. “Time loops. How lovely.”
He’s ready when Sif rounds the corner again, interrupting her spiel. “And I always will be. Alright, I get it. Listen, you are a reconstruction of a past event created by the organization that controls all of time. So you need to trust me and you need to help me escape, yeah?”
Sif listens to him at least. Hope curls insidiously in Loki’s chest as she finally nods. Loki relaxes.
Just in time for Sif to hit him again. And this round, she calls him pathetic for good measure as she leaves.
Ah, Loki realizes through the haze of agony. He can influence the situation to a point. But there’s no warm bath. No glass of pleasant Vanaheim wine. Not here. No, all he gets is Sif’s cruelty, deserved though as it may be.
And Mobius chose this. Of all the moments in Loki’s life, he selected this one. There have been innumerable insults made against him. He’s been injured in a variety of ways. This interaction with Sif wouldn’t have come to mind at all if Loki had been asked for his worst memory. If Mobius had really wanted to torture him properly… Jotunheim. Odin’s Vault. The Sanctuary. Loki’s self-preservation quickly skirts away from that particular memory. The point being, that if Loki had chosen the worst moments of his life to be forced to relive, this would not have ranked at all.
So why this one? It’s something he ponders in the tiny respites between loops. Why would Mobius choose this specific memory? He’s got to think like an analyst.
Loki had slept with Sif. It had only happened the once, for obvious reasons, and he’d only done it specifically to pull the trick on her. It had been worth it, both the sex and the prank, even after she’d taken her retribution against him. Her comments hadn’t meant anything to him. So what if he was alone? He always had been and assumed that wouldn’t change. Loki definitely had not been looking to change that with Sif of all people. Sif didn’t actually like him so what would one night of intimacy between them have mattered? Loki thought it no more than a lark and hadn’t cared about Sif’s feelings over the whole thing.
He is on his knees again, wishing to be rid of the Time Collar so he could at least shift forms and avoid some of the agony on the next loop, when the puzzle pieces start fitting together.
Mobius would have known Loki had been intimate with Sif, if he’d chosen this as the loop. He would have known Sif’s physical assault on his person - and he would have heard her condemnation of Loki. There is a message there, intentional or not, and Loki very much doubts Mobius does anything without intention.
Loki has to see the situation from someone else’s point of view.
…he had used Sif. He’d used his own body too, but that had been his choice. It hadn’t been Sif’s. Loki had used intimacy to hurt Sif simply because it amused him.
Oh.
And her words damned him to be alone because that was his punishment for being so careless with another’s feelings. The physical pain isn’t the point. That is merely the emphasis for the emotional pain he should regret inflicting on others.
Like Sif.
Like Mobius.
That is why he deserves to be alone. Not because of the tricks or careless intimacy he utilizes to get his way. Not even because he is an asshole, as Mobius called him. Though he is indeed that.
He would always be alone because he never cared about anyone but himself.
Until recently.
“Work your Loki, work your Loki. That oughta be my mantra,” Mobius says as he leaves Ravonna’s office.
It probably already is his mantra. In more ways than Ravonna knows.
Mobius takes a moment to breathe. His emotions are still running high after that confrontation with Loki. After seeing the desperation on Loki’s face at being separated from the other Variant. After realizing he would have lost Loki entirely if those two hadn’t caused a nexus event by being lovebirds in the middle of an apocalypse.
It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. All Mobius had intended was to take advantage of the opportunity Loki’s original capture presented and solve their Variant problem at the same time. Loki was only meant to be a tool in his analyst arsenal to stop the Variant’s repeated attacks against the TVA.
And he’d known what Loki was doing. Mobius had known why Loki had gotten close to him. He’d known Loki was using him the first time they’d kissed. Mobius had rationalized that it was okay because he was using Loki too. They could both use each other and as long as they both got their way - and both got off - who would they be hurting, really?
If that didn’t come back to bite Mobius in the ass.
Somewhere along the way, Mobius had caught feelings for Loki. Whether it happened during one of their too quick trysts or over coffee in the TVA cafeteria, he wasn’t sure. But Mobius had genuinely grown to like Loki. As a person. Demigod. Whatever. He hadn’t had any delusions of a relationship or anything so romantic, but sometimes, when Loki tipped his head and gave Mobius a soft smile or when he held onto Mobius a heartbeat longer than fully necessary after they’d had sex, sometimes Mobius thought Loki might like him too.
Mobius knocks his head back against the wall. He’s a goddamn fool.
And foolishly, he wants to talk to the Variant. He wants to find out what she knows. What had happened between her and Loki. It would tear him up inside but it would help him make a clean cut of his feelings to Loki. That interviewing her would actually be beneficial to his responsibilities was just an excuse. A good one, but an excuse all the same.
Which makes him suspicious on why Ravonna said no one could talk to the Variant. Sure, she is another Loki and all Lokis lie, but so what? Couldn’t Mobius get to the truth in those lies? Isn’t that his job? So why is he forbidden from talking to the Variant?
Well. That doesn’t mean he can’t do a drive-by to where the Variant is being held. Maybe he could get some information from B-15. For a hunter, she’s always proved to be very observant. He’d long thought she’d make a good analyst if she wasn’t such an effective hunter.
Mobius is mostly in control of himself by the time he gets to the Time Theater where B-15 and a number of other hunters are guarding the door, including one nursing a bloody nose.
“They don’t go gently, do they?” Mobius asks.
B-15 is onto him the moment she spots him. “Aren’t you supposed to be interrogating your Variant pet?”
His Variant pet. Doesn’t he wish! This would all be so much easier if that were true.
“Just stretching my legs,” he lies. “You know we’ve bought in Kree, Titans, vampires. Why is it the two orphan demigods who are such a pain in the ass?”
There. That oughta throw B-15 off the scent. By looping the Variant into his statement, he deflects from her “pet” comment without having to try denying it.
When B-15 points out that it was his idea to bring in another one, Mobius offers to share credit for that, proud of himself for deftly switching her attention from whatever she suspects is going on between him and Loki.
Not that she is wrong, of course. He really should schedule an appointment with the TVA therapist.
Mobius is mentally patting himself on the back when B-15 steps closer to him with a worried look. He’s taken a little aback when she asks if Loki said anything to him. Maybe he hasn’t been as clever as he thought.
Mobius covers with a chuckle. “Yeah, he said the TVA is lying to me.” He takes a beat, his own worries creeping through. B-15 can’t actually know he’s been carrying on with Loki, no matter what she suspects. She can’t actually know. Can she? “Why?”
She’s not looking at him when she answers, her attention off in the direction of the Time Theater holding Loki. “Just doing my job.”
Loki sits on the floor, his emotional wellbeing as fragile as his body. He’s lost count of how many times they’ve gone through the loop now. And each time, after his epiphany, Sif’s words have cut a little deeper. They ring in his head even after his face and his groin stop throbbing. They still echo even as Sif enters to begin the infernal loop once more.
He can’t do it. He can’t take the damage to his soul anymore, to say nothing of his body. He’s not broken, but he’s certainly cracked and hearing Sif’s censure once again might finally shatter him.
Is that what Mobius wanted? Is that what he thought Loki deserved for what he’s done? Loki’s heart sinks to think that might be the case.
No, he realizes as Sif re-enters. She, or this memory, won’t be what destroys him.
He’s done that to himself.
Loki doesn’t bother to get up as Sif stomps to him. “Please, please, no more. Please. I beg you.” He shifts his position and kneels submissively, holding up a hand to halt her. It works inasmuch as she stops and waits for him to speak.
“I’m a horrible person. I get it. I really am.” That admission comes easily enough. He’s always played the villain for others. “I cut off your hair because I thought it’d be funny. And it’s not.” What he needs to say next chokes him. “Uh, I crave attention. Because I’m… I’m a… I’m a narcissist. And I suppose it’s because I’m scared of being alone.”
Admitting that feels more terrifying than any apology that he’s never meant. This is a mirror, held up to the worst parts of himself. Which was probably some of the lesson Mobius meant for him to learn.
He’s relieved when Sif puts her hand out and helps him to his feet. Perhaps it’s done now. Loki has castrated himself for Mobius’ amusement. Sif will accept his debasement and let this nightmare end.
So when Sif jerks him closer, the surprise is evident on his face.
“You are alone and you always will be.”
Sif drops his hand like he’s contaminated but doesn’t physically hurt him this time. She doesn’t need to. It doesn’t matter what he does. Loki can’t take back what he did.
There’s no atonement for that and it chafes.
Loki is absorbing Sif’s parting shot when Mobius rounds the corner.
Mobius doesn’t know what’s going through Loki’s head when he lays eyes on him. Mobius has been too preoccupied with everything happening and his own thoughts to worry about how Loki’s experience in the Time Cell has gone. Loki is standing at least so it couldn’t have been too bad - and Mobius isn’t sure if he’s relieved or disappointed by that. Either way, Loki can’t be thrilled with him right now.
That’s okay. Mobius isn’t ready to forgive him yet either.
“Okay, Loki.” Loki turns to face him, as though for a moment Loki had forgotten he wasn’t actually back on Asgard. There’s a flicker of relief in Loki’s eyes at finding Mobius there instead of Sif before Loki kills it. Mobius keeps his expression neutral and likewise gives Loki no indication of the storm of emotions bashing around inside him. “You ready to talk?” Mobius asks flatly.
Mobius feels Loki glaring daggers into his back as he leads Loki into the Time Theater.
“Fancy technology,” Loki taunts as Mobius seats himself at the table. “Threatening interrogation tactics.” Loki pulls out his own chair and sits. “Seems you and I are in a loop of our own.”
Oh, Loki’s walls are up. Possibly higher than they were when they first met. That’s fine. Those walls reinforce the distance Mobius needs to remind himself to put between them.
“Well, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then,” Mobius tells him, pencil in hand. The colloquialism is a vast understatement. It was more like a violent flood, one that had overtaken Mobius and swept him away when he should have been the one to prevent it.
“Certainly has,” Loki says, taunting him.
Mobius ignores it. Loki wants a reaction. Needs a reaction. Mobius isn’t going to give it to him. Not now. Not after what Loki’s done. “Okay, you said the TVA is lying to me. Go ahead. Or is that just a cockroach’s survival mechanism kicking in?” That might have been harsh, comparing Loki to an insect, but his chest aches just looking across the table at him so Mobius isn’t sure he actually cares.
Loki sits there, arms crossed over his chest. “Let me out of this place,” Loki tells him, giving him nothing. “Stop beating me up. And I’ll tell you.”
There’s the slightest twinge of a guilty conscience before Mobius buries it deep. “Cockroach, got it.” He makes a note - COCKROACH - and tries hard not to think about the first four letters. “How long have you been working for the Variant?”
“Me? Working for her?” Loki scoffs. “Please.”
There he goes. Just a tiny bit of prodding, an insult to his ego, and Mobius knows Loki will start talking. “Okay, so, if you’re not working for the Variant, what is it? You’re partners?”
Loki lowers his arms. “Absolutely not,” he insists with a shake of his head. “She’s difficult and irritating, and she tries to hit me all the time.”
Something about the way Loki speaks of the Variant catches Mobius’ attention. He looks up from his notes to watch him with a furrowed brow. Loki doesn’t sound… he doesn’t sound irritated at all. He sounds reluctantly charmed with how he describes the Variant. Mobius narrows his eyes and returns to his notes. What an asshole.
“No,” Loki finishes. “Not partners, no.”
There was a moment, several moments if Mobius were honest with himself, that he thought they could be partners. That he and Loki could work together, be together, and bring down this Variant as well as maybe others afterwards. Instead, Loki had run off with her. He’d chosen the Variant over staying with Mobius.
Mobius shouldn’t have been surprised. He’s seen this Loki’s life. Studied it. He knows Lokis, especially this one, are cads. They’ve got the faithlessness of a common alley cat who will go to anyone who feeds their egos.
“Yeah, I guess you don’t do partners,” Mobius says bitterly. “Unless, of course, it benefits you. And you intend to betray them at some point.”
Loki tips his head as Mobius’ words wash over him. He’s heard this tone before, seen this emotion in others - but never directed at him. Not like this.
Jealousy.
Mobius is jealous. Of Sylvie. Over him.
It’s a strange feeling, to be on the receiving end of that jealousy. He’s caused it before, certainly, taking lovers who he had no business taking and being confronted by frustrated spouses or significant others. But he’s never had someone get jealous, almost possessive, over him before.
It throws Loki off in his perception of his relationship to Mobius and he can’t have that.
So his next words are sharp, delivered with the sting they’re intended to have.
“It was a means to an end, Mobius. Welcome to the real world. Down there, we’re awful to one another to get what we want.”
Ah. As though Mobius hasn’t learned that lesson quite well, thanks to Loki himself.
“Now, I gotta have a prince tell me how the real world works?” Mobius asks him mockingly. He needs to retake control of this interrogation and get them away from what might as well be history. “Why don’t you just tell me what caused the nexus event on Lamentis?”
Loki rolls his eyes like the spoiled prince he is. “Let me say this again. I’m not going to tell you just so you can turn around immediately afterwards and prune me.”
Mobius sits back. Out of all the awful things they’ve said to each other so far, that Loki thinks Mobius would prune him cuts the deepest. After Mobius stuck his neck out to save Loki when he arrived at the TVA. After he’s given Loki chance after chance. After they… Mobius feels his lids flicker, fearing he’s losing a battle at keeping all but his anger from showing. That Loki thinks Mobius would prune him after being intimate with him is possibly the worst thing Loki could say to him.
Mobius swallows hard. “I guess we’ve reached a dead end then.”
Loki’s response is quick, dismissive sounding. “Okay, it’s over.”
He’s masking. Mobius knows it. What he doesn’t know is how to get back from where they are now. Maybe it really is over. Whatever it was. Mobius might as well make what peace he can with it.
“I’m going to miss these little tete-a-tetes,” he says, resolved. He’s not going to let Loki see how much he’s hurting. Mobius will keep it professional, keep Loki at a distance. It’s what he should have done from the start.
“Me too,” Loki tells him, very much sounding like he won’t miss them a bit. Won’t miss Mobius at all.
And, at the end of the day, Mobius is only human and he can’t resist another little barb to get under Loki’s skin. “One guy playing checkers - you. Ol’ Mobius playing chess.” Mobius stands, retrieving his TemPad from his jacket. “But, yeah, give my regards to Lady Sif.”
“No. What…” The panic is clear in Loki’s eyes as he glances to where the Time Cell had been. He reaches across the table for Mobius and finds only air. “No, no, no. Please not… Wait, wait, wait.”
“Yeah?”
Loki feels like it’s all slipping through his fingers. The chance to face the Time Keepers. The opportunity to learn more about his Variants. And Mobius. He’s losing Mobius.
So he lies.
“Of course it was me pulling the strings all along.” He knows in his heart that Mobius doesn’t believe him but he says it anyways. He knows that Mobius has known every bit of his scheming since entering the TVA. Or at least he’d thought Mobius had known. If Mobius didn’t… Loki can’t fathom that Mobius wouldn’t have known when his ploy to use Mobius had morphed into Loki actually caring for Mobius. Mobius had to have known. Loki’s eyes flick back to where Mobius holds the TemPad. Maybe Mobius hadn’t known.
But unfortunately for them both, once Loki’s lies start, he can’t fight his nature until it’s all spilled from his lips.
Mobius sits back in his chair as Loki weaves his story.
“She came to me on Asgard a long time ago,” Loki lies. “And then she took me to one of her apocalypses and that’s where we hatched our plan together.”
“Which is?” Mobius asks, pencil in hand like anything Loki might say is worth writing down. They both know it won’t be.
“Coming along very nicely, thank you.”
There’s no need for Mobius to ask for details. There are none. So he lets it slide. “And the Variant?” he questions, thankful that his voice doesn’t betray him when he does. Mobius doesn’t mean to ask, but he might as well hear him out. Loki might inadvertently reveal something he’d rather kept hidden. He usually does.
“Doesn’t matter,” Loki lies again, this time with a shrug. “She’s a pawn.” He leans forward, keeping his eyes on Mobius, never blinking. It’s a certain tell of Loki’s that Mobius is far too familiar with, one he utilizes when his lies get bigger, more desperate. “Something very, very big is going to happen. And when it does, I’ll dispose of her,” Loki finishes with a grim smile.
It’s not quite a conscious decision on Mobius’ part to lie to Loki in return. No more so than the lies they’ve already told each other. However, even though he’s furious with Loki, even though a small part of him could go prune the Variant himself right now, the casual way Loki tosses out that he’d dispose of the Variant rankles Mobius further. Whatever happened on Lamentis, Loki - like the feckless slut he is - has immediately turned his back on the Variant to save his own skin.
So Mobius lies, better than Loki does, and slides the knife from between his own ribs into Loki’s.
“Well, we saved you the trouble there. She’s already been pruned.”
Loki’s face falls. He can’t even try to dissemble. Yes, it makes something inside of him sad that Sylvie had come so far for nothing but the blasé tone in which Mobius delivers the news leaves Loki almost empty inside. Because of him. Because of his own actions. He’s gotten Sylvie pruned and possibly worse still, the Mobius across from him now is the same disaffected TVA drone that Loki had first met.
And Mobius doesn’t seem to notice, continuing to droll on. “So assume I set you free-”
“Hang on, wait,” Loki interrupts, putting his hand out like he can physically stop this madness. “Hang on. What did you just say?”
“What? Assume I do set you free?”
Loki doesn’t care about that. Well, he does but it’s surprisingly low on his list of things he cares about right now. “The Variant. She’s gone?”
“Yeah,” Mobius emphasizes. “Not before she took out two of ours. Yeah, she was going to her Time Cell, broke free. Hunter B-15 stepped in, popped her. So you might want to fire off a thank you note to Hunter B-15, because it looks like you’re the superior Loki.” The words taste like ash on his tongue. Loki’s something alright, a superior asshole maybe. The broken look Loki wears certainly doesn’t help Mobius in feeling more charitable to him either. “I would have bet on her, but that’s what makes a horse race.”
Loki sits back slowly, wiping his frown away, as though Mobius can’t see the tears starting to form along his lower lashes. “Good riddance,” Loki lies.
It’s the most obvious lie yet and Mobius glances up from his notes. Loki is giving him that tight-lipped smile that couldn’t possibly be more insincere. Mobius frowns as he studies him. Why is Loki lying? That simple inquiry drives to the heart of many Lokis’ motivations. What is he covering up? What emotions…
Of course. It can’t be him. It would have never been him. He was just a footnote on Loki’s delusional grand ascension. It’s the Variant. Of course.
Mobius chuckles. The whole situation is so damned ridiculous. Loki couldn’t be anymore transparent and Mobius couldn’t have been a bigger fool. He simply never imagined Loki was so ego-starved as to fuck himself.
“What’s so funny?” Admittedly he doesn’t know Mobius as well as he should, but Loki would never have thought he’d be the type to laugh at another’s misfortune. He’d never laughed at Loki’s.
“Come on. It’s just, look at your eyes. You like her.”
“What?” The statement is so far from his thoughts that Loki finds himself lost. He doesn’t know Sylvie to know if he would like her. Not that it matters when the person accusing him of this is the one Loki actually has feelings for.
“You like her!” Mobius insists to Loki’s continued confusion. “Does she like you?”
How would he know? Loki isn’t sure Sylvie likes anyone, not even postal workers. And what would it matter if Sylvie was dead? Which might mean… Is Mobius lying to him? “Was she pruned?”
“I mean no wonder you have no clue what caused the nexus event on Lamentis. Both of you were just swooning over each other. I guess it’s the apocalypse-”
It’s absurd. That Mobius would think he had escaped the TVA, been trying to survive a planet-destroying apocalypse, and yet somehow have the time to carry on with Sylvie.
“Mobius! Tell me the truth!”
The truth doesn’t come. Perhaps he doesn’t deserve that either. Instead Loki can only sit there, the pain he feels reflecting back in sharp relief from eyes he’d seen darken with pleasure and soften with affection.
“Two Variants of the same being, especially you, forming this kind of sick twisted romantic relationship. That’s pure chaos. That could break reality. It’s breaking my reality right now. What an incredible, seismic narcissist! You fell for yourself.”
Loki’s breath comes raggedly. Yes, maybe there’s an infatuation with Sylvie and he’s certainly worried about her. And yes, maybe under different circumstances, Loki would have tried to weasel his way into her bed. But that doesn’t compare to the feelings he’s developed for Mobius. It wouldn’t have lessened them either, had he actually done half of what Mobius accuses.
Perhaps he should have.
“Her name was Sylvie,” Loki offers.
“Aw, Sylvie. Lovely.” Mobius seems so irritated that Loki supposes he ought to be thankful Mobius isn’t calling her something much less flattering. “How do you spell that? Is that with an IE or just an I?”
Loki’s stretched-thin temper snaps. Mobius seems to assume the worst of him and that thought stings as much as the possibility that Sylvie has gotten killed because of him. “Is she alive?!”
The outburst ceases his mockery. There may not be a reason to show Loki any kindness and yet Mobius can’t help but to be honest with him. After all the lies Loki has told and been told, Mobius can’t find it within him to add to that number. Damn his too tender heart. “For now,” he admits. Loki’s relief should shatter him. It should be the thing that finally causes all the words he’s holding back to spew forth. Instead, Mobius only feels numb. He returns to his notes and the story Loki has spun. “And was infiltrating the TVA, was that always sort of the grand plan?”
“Our interests are aligned,” Loki explains.
“Overthrowing the Time Keepers.” Mobius can’t decide if the lies are getting worse because they’re getting bigger or if Loki isn’t even trying anymore. The only being Loki’s interests align with are his own. No allies. No partners. Every Loki for himself. He would have been tossed aside once Loki had gotten the access he wanted.
“Maybe they need to be overthrown,” Loki argues. Because of course they do. He was brought to the TVA against his will, his magic and body restrained. He was told he can never leave, that his world doesn’t exist. And every TVA employee possibly faced the same thing with no memory of that trauma.
Mobius’ frustration is nearly a tangible thing. “I oughta box your ears,” he threatens like Loki hasn’t felt enough physical pain recently.
He could. If it meant Mobius would believe him. Mobius has been - is - Loki’s friend. He had schemed his way into Mobius’ bed for his own purposes and he hadn’t cared how Mobius felt about the whole thing other than that he’d agreed to it. And now he realizes he was wrong for that. That he does care for Mobius. That, truth of the matter or not, Loki respects and treasures Mobius.
He feels like a heel and rightfully so, he figures. He had played Mobius but he thought Mobius knew. Just how Loki had thought Mobius knew when it became more than just some scheme. When they became something more. He so desperately needs to explain that but those words stick in his throat. And truly, they don’t feel as important now as telling Mobius the truth about how he came to the TVA.
“Mobius, listen. If what Sylvie told me about this place is true,” he says with a cautious glance at the door, “it affects all of us.”
There’s a chance Mobius will think he’s lying again. He has no reason to believe anything Loki says to him now. But Loki is being as honest as he knows how - and if Mobius chose the time loop with Sif to teach him a lesson, then Loki should start illustrating that he is learning.
“Oh, here we go,” Mobius replies and Loki’s heart drops. “Now, you’ve already told me about fifty lies in the past ten minutes.”
He has. Damnit, he has. But he wouldn’t lie, not about something of this magnitude. Not to Mobius, not about this. “I’m not lying this time. I’m not lying. I’m telling you the truth.”
“And now I’m supposed to believe your terrorist girlfriend,” Mobius spits.
Loki physically recoils back from that. Mobius isn’t listening. He doesn’t believe him, so focused on Loki’s alleged betrayal that nothing else matters. In a way, Loki suspects it doesn’t. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he insists.
Mobius almost calls him a liar flat out. He’s so angry that he’s not stopping to think about what he’s saying. “Whatever you want to call her! Your female self you have some sort of demented crush on.”
Had he not been enough? Had he left Loki so unsatisfied that he had to chase the first piece of ass that had waltzed by? Mobius wasn’t such a sucker that he expected some sort of commitment from Loki of all people, but he had expected respect. Which apparently had been too much to ask.
He’s so close to snapping, but to his surprise, it’s Loki who loses control first.
“You’re all Variants!” Loki explodes. “Everyone who works at the TVA, the Time Keepers didn’t create you. They kidnapped you from the timeline and erased your memories. Memories she can access through enchantment. Before this, you had a past. Maybe you had a family. A life!”
Mobius cannot believe what he’s hearing. It’s such a bold faced lie that he almost laughs aloud at the absurdity of it. That Loki actually thinks Mobius would fall for something so outrageous…
And yet. Loki’s watching him with such an open expression that the less cynical part of Mobius is inclined to trust him. To do that though, Mobius would have to accept a complete shifting of everything he knows. His stomach sours. It can’t be true. It just can’t.
He has a sinking suspicion that it is.
A weariness consumes Mobius in place of the anger. He lets the silence stretch. They’re already uncomfortable. The silence doesn’t make it any worse. Or better. “...nice try. That was good.” He tells himself it’s a lie meant to wear down his defenses by offering him something he can’t have. Never had. It might have worked before Roxxcart. Before Loki had run. Before Lamentis. Mobius shakes his head. “You two, what a pair! Gosh, unbelievable. Wherever you go, it’s just death, destruction, the literal ends of worlds.” He pulls his TemPad out once more, tapping out a quick instruction. “Well, I’m gonna have to close this case now ‘cause I don’t need you anymore. Or as you might say: our interests are no longer aligned,” Mobius tosses Loki’s words back in his face.
Loki’s heart plummets to the floor. Mobius doesn’t believe him. He’s irreparably damaged what they had. And with the entrance of the mute Minutemen to manhandle him, Loki doesn’t dare risk outting their relationship by saying what he really feels.
Thankfully, Mobius has reminded him that he is a prince. An ice prince. The facade is all too easy for him to call on now as he refuses to turn away from Mobius. “You know, of all the liars in this place - and there are a great many - you’re the biggest.”
Mobius doesn’t give him the courtesy of looking at him. “Why? Because I lied about your girlfriend?”
Loki lets the stupid comment go. Mobius doesn’t believe anything he says anyways. “Oh no. That I can respect.” He waits until Mobius meets his eyes. “I mean, the lies you tell yourself.”
The Time Cell door warbles closed behind Loki and he doesn’t see Mobius still watching him as he disappears.
Loki wants to rage. He wants to fight. But he’s numb. He recites Sif’s diatribe blankly, just to avoid the physical pain. It’s tempting though. The physical pain would at least be something. Because all he feels right now is akin to an open wound in his chest that left naught but emptiness behind.
Mobius doesn’t believe him.
Why should he? Loki is literally the God of Lies. Who would believe anything he says?
He scrubs a hand over his face as Sif stomps away. He’s done a terrible thing in betraying Mobius, in hurting the one person in his life who’d seen the good and the bad and not treated him as a snake. Until now and rightfully so.
And for once in his cursed life, Loki cares. He wants to make amends. He needs Mobius’ forgiveness. And his trust.
(He takes one of Sif’s assaults willingly, the guilt momentarily eating away his self-preservation.)
Loki is at a loss of what to do. There are no grand plans, no dramatics, no chance to magic his way back into Mobius’ good graces again. Not in this blasted Time Loop anyways.
His head drops forward as Sif re-enters. All he can do is have faith Mobius will give him the opportunity to try.
Mobius’ hands shake slightly as he watches the recording on Ravonna’s TemPad. There’s a chance the Variant, Sylvie he reminds himself, enchanted C-20 into what she’s saying. That Sylvie had either enchanted Loki to believe the same lie or simply convinced him of it.
His jaw clenches as he slips the stolen TemPad into his pocket. His instincts - the ones that led him to save Loki from pruning, the ones he’s spent eons refining and trusting - tell him it’s not Sylvie lying to them.
Mobius leans against the Archive stacks. So what now? Ravonna lied to him. To protect him? Protect herself? The whole damn operation?! And would it even matter, the why of it? He thought she trusted him. He thought she was trustworthy. Being wrong stings almost as badly as the lie itself.
He scrapes a hand roughly through his hair. If Ravonna is lying, that means Loki isn’t. Not about this, at least. Mobius replays their conversation in his head.
Loki’s reasoning for running was justified. Mobius might have done the same if he’d known. Maybe he did when he was taken. He compartmentalizes that thought for now. And Loki hadn’t tried to keep what he’d learned from Mobius. He hadn’t hidden that truth and tried to gain advantage from it. Not like Ravonna had.
Mobius’ mind circles back to Loki’s actions. To the way Loki looked back at him before he’d run. To how Loki had held him a little longer after the last time they…
Whatever he was to Loki, Mobius can’t deny that Loki is something special to him. Not anymore.
Straightening his spine, Mobius starts walking back to the Time Theater. Regardless of his feelings, there’s only one person Mobius trusts enough to face this with. Only one person he wants to have at his side. Only one person…
With a hissed curse, Mobius remembers exactly what Time Loop he’s put Loki in and picks up his pace.
“I’ve heard it once. I’ve heard it a thousand times.”
Loki forces himself to stand up finally. His knees ache but it’s a dull pain compared to the one in his chest.
He has feelings for Mobius. Feelings beyond being coworkers or friends or lovers. Lovers… Loki’s breath hitches, dangerously close to losing his composure, and he rubs a hand over his chest. They could have been… He could have had…
“You. You conniving, craven, pathetic worm,” he growls at himself. “You did this! Right?!”
The door to the TimeCell warbles into existence and Loki’s heart jumps into his throat. He doesn’t know if he’s relieved or hurt when Mobius steps through.
“What are you doing?” Mobius immediately asks him.
The hurt wins out. “Passing the time,” Loki snaps.
“You care about this Variant?”
Loki’s taken aback by the question. Is it a trick? It must be. Mobius must be testing him.
“Sylvie?” he retorts. “I’m not sure ‘care’ is the right word. I think we’ve covered this back in there.”
Mobius steps closer, voice hushed but commanding. “Shut up! Shut up!” So Loki does for once, watching the agent with trepidation. “Do you really think you deserve to be alone?”
Loki stares at him. The words are embedded in his soul even more than the pain left behind by Sif’s looped assaults. Yes, he thinks to say. Don’t I, he wants to ask. I don’t deserve-
“Loki!”
It startles a reply out of him, thoughts interrupted. “You told me to shut up.”
“Do you really believe you deserve to be alone?” Mobius repeats.
“I don’t know.” It’s honest, which seems to be a recent theme for him, as disconcerting as it is. But hasn’t that been the lesson of this exercise? His lies have hurt the people he could have been close to and therefore-
“Then you better figure it out quick!” Mobius insists. “Because that nexus event the two of you caused? I think whatever that connection is, can bring this whole place down. So we better understand-”
“We?” Loki latches onto the pronoun like it’s gospel.
“Do you swear she didn’t implant those memories in Hunter C-20?”
If he’s asking that… Does that mean Mobius trusts him? That he is asking because he knows Loki won’t lie to him now? There’s a change in Mobius from when they last spoke. Loki sees it now. The anger for what he’s done is gone. Instead there’s uncertainty, something he hasn’t seen from Mobius before. A need for something, something from Loki. He’s terrified to hope that his relationship to Mobius, any relationship with Mobius, can be salvaged.
“Mobius, no,” he reassures. “I believe her.”
“So I’m just supposed to trust the word of two Lokis?” Mobius asks and Loki understands that’s not what he’s really asking.
“How about the word of a friend?” Loki returns and doesn’t try to hide the hope in his tone.
Mobius nods and if things weren’t so tenuous, Loki might have embraced him. “You were right, about the TVA. You were right from the beginning.” Loki figures it’s more of an apology than he deserves, which makes it all the more precious. “And if you wanna save her? You need to trust me. Can we do that?”
“Yes,” Loki agrees without hesitation.
“Okay.”
Loki thinks that’s it, but Mobius barely acknowledges Loki’s agreement before he launches into a fresh spiel. “You can be whoever, whatever you wanna be. Even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different.”
Where Sif’s words had carved themselves into his psyche slice by bloody slice, Mobius’ affirmation doesn’t need the same repetition to resonate. The words, Mobius’ belief in him, spreads within him, vine-like tendrils unfurling and blossoming til they obscure the cruelty Loki had inflicted on himself. The damage remains, but Mobius’ forgiveness and acceptance replaces it with something fresh, something living.
A life that would be worthy of being shared.
With an optimism Loki hasn’t felt since he was a child, they walk out from the Time Cell side-by-side. Partners. Ready to meet any challenge head-on. Together.
To find Ravonna and a squad of Minutemen awaiting them.
He should have known it wouldn’t last. Loki knows he’s a daft fool for hoping. For wanting. For believing. For thinking they could ever be free of the horror of the TVA and its tragedies. And he wants to shout as Mobius confronts Ravonna with their new truth. Mobius trusts him! Mobius believes in him! Mobius-
Mobius.
Loki’s heart shatters as Mobius disintegrates into a shower of sparks, words he’ll never get to say turning his silver tongue to lead.