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He was back at the TVA.
Mobius!
He was about to rush to find him when he stopped abruptly.
Sylvie... the kiss...
Now that the adrenaline from the fight had worn off, thinking about the kiss gave him such a weird feeling.
He didn't know what had made her kiss him, if it was a desperate attempt to change his mind or if it had been to betray him.
He had not even answered the kiss, too shocked to react, and she had taken advantage of it to send him here, at the TVA through a Timedoor.
Mobius, he had to find Mobius. That was his only thought.
He ran through the hallways in a desperate manner. Everywhere there was turmoil.
He came to the archives, between the familiar shelves, and there he saw him, next to Hunter B-15, finally.
It was like coming home, the sight of the familiar face and stance giving him an unimaginable feeling of comfort, the impression that everything was going to be alright, that anything was possible despite the disaster.
Mobius seemed flustered and as Loki went on, he heard their conversation.
"That's, what, 63 new branches in this unit alone?"
"Does he want us to just let them all branch?"
"At this point, how are we gonna stop it?"
Loki shouted, "We can't!"
Mobius looked at him surprised, "What? What'd you say?"
Loki shouted back, "It's done, Mobius. We made a terrible mistake."
Loki wondered why Mobius didn't react, why he seemed so distant, as he asked him, "What's done?"
Loki answered hastily, "We freed the Timeline. We found him beyond the storm. A Citadel at the End of Time. He's terrifying. He planned everything. He's seen everything. He knows everything. It's complicated. Okay?"
Mobius replied, bewilderment on his face, "Right."
Loki continued, "But someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person. And they're all set on war. We need to prepare."
Mobius tried to soothe him, but something wasn't right, "Take it easy. You're an analyst, right? What division are you from?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
It was Loki's turn not to understand as Mobius asked him, pressing, "Who are you?What's your name?" and that Hunter B-15 was calling for reinforcements, "Boots on the ground now. Archives."
To Loki's dismay, Mobius asked again, "Who are you?"
Loki felt the same pain break his heart as when Mobius had been disintegrated before his eyes. Panting, he slowly turned around and his eyes fell on the spot where the three timekeeper statues normally stood. Instead, there was a statue of the man, the demon, he didn't know what to call it, the one who was in the Void.
Loki understood.
It was not his TVA, it was not his Mobius. It wasn't him!
As the guards came towards him, he felt hope returning and the wheels of his brain turning at full speed, he had to find a way to get back to the TVA from the main timeline.
———————
Meanwhile, Mobius and Hunter B-15 watched the main timeline split into hundreds of timelines.
Mobius, more than a little worried, said aloud, "No turning back now."
Hunter B-15 replied, "Who said anything about turning back?"
"For all time."
"Always."
One sentence remained while the uncertainty was complete.
"Mobius! Mobius!"
Mobius turned at the call of his name. Casey was beckoning him over. He quickly rushed toward him.
"What?"
"You told me to tell you as soon as I had access to data about Loki! I found it! Because of the multiplication of timelines, we now have access to the Void's timeline. We can see what's going on there! Look at it! There he is! Loki is here!"
Mobius pulled up a chair and sat down next to Casey, his eyes focused on the screen, deaf to everything going on around him.
Sylvie and Loki seemed to be in a castle or building and across from them stood an unknown man who spoke, "Better hurry. Timeline's already branching."
Sylvie seemed to look surprisingly aggressive as she addressed him, "So, what are you suggesting? That we think about it. And what precisely is there to think about?"
Loki turned to her, looking almost imploring, "Weren't you listening to what he was saying? That's the gambit. Remove the dictator and what fills the void?"
The way the screen reflected the image, he couldn't see Sylvie's face, but he heard the animosity in her voice when she said, "Ah. You want the throne?"
Oh no...After all that Loki had done to become better, how could she say something like that?
Loki replied in an urging tone, "No, that's not it. No."
"I don't believe you." Sylvie's tone was unmistakable. Mobius, who knew Loki perfectly could read all the distress on his face as he tried to convince Sylvie.
"Sylvie, the universe is in the balance, everything we know to be true. Everything. I know the TVA has hurt us both. But what if by taking him out, we risk unleashing something even worse? All I'm suggesting is we just take a minute to think about it. I promise you from my heart this isn't about a throne."
Of course not! I always knew it. Only you didn't know it Loki, you thought that's all you could be, that that was your glorious purpose. I always knew you were capable of much greater things.
Sylvie insisted, " What was I thinking trusting you? Has this whole thing been a con?"
Mobius' heart broke for Loki who answered her, his voice clearly strained, "Really? That's what you think of me... after all this time? Sure. Why not? Evil Loki's master plan comes together. Well, you never trusted me, did you? What was the point? Can't you see? This is bigger than our experience."
Sylvie, completely unmoved by Loki's argument, answered him, "Why aren't we seeing this the same way?"
Loki replied, looking defeated, "Because you can't trust... and I can't be trusted."
Oh yes Loki. You can be trusted. I trust you with my life, without hesitation, without even thinking for a second. Don't you see that you are not the same as you were?
"Then I guess we're in a pickle."
After these words, Sylvie attacked him. On the screen it was impossible to follow the whole fight, but it was clear that Loki was only defending himself and refused to go on the offensive, until he magically placed himself between Sylvie and his target. Mobius saw with horror Sylvie's blade on Loki's throat. a.
"Stop. "I've been where you are. I've felt what you feel. Don't ask me how I know. All I know... is I don't wanna hurt you. I don't want a throne. I just…" Loki sighed deeply before continuing, "I just want you to be okay."
Sylvie lowered her arms and suddenly kissed him. Mobius' heart sank as the kiss dragged on and suddenly Sylvie stepped aside and said, softly, "But I'm not you." before pushing Loki through a Timedoor.
"Where is he? Casey, where is Loki now?"
Casey didn't have time to answer, as the screen blurred and Loki was back on the screen. This time the surroundings were much more familiar.
"It's the Time Theater!" shouted Hunter B-15.
Mobius started to run, arriving at the door, he opened it and called, "Loki!"
Nothing. The room was empty.
"Mobius! Mobius!" Hunter B-15 was coming running in, "You need to come back and see this! Right now!"
"What?!"
"Hurry up! Come on!"
He rushed up behind her and they reached Casey's office area again. Hunter B-15 showed him the screen.
Loki was walking the hallways of what appeared to be the TVA, the ones past the time theater, but Mobius knew that couldn't be the case, they had just passed through.
"Casey, are you sure this is happening now?"
"Yes, we're in real time!"
Loki was now in the archives, and seemed to be looking for someone, maybe him, Mobius, between the shelves.
"Mobius!"
Mobius gasped, in front of Loki a few shelves over were himself and Hunter B-15.
"What? How?!"
"Wait, wait, wait!"
On the screen, Loki continued to advance toward their duplicates, and they heard Mobius say, "That's, what, 63 new branches in this unit alone?"
Hunter B-15 answered, "Does he want us to just let them all branch?"
"At this point, how are we gonna stop it?"
Loki intervened, shouting, "We can't!"
Their two doubles looked at him in surprise.
As he watched Loki try to explain what was going on to the two stunned doubles, Mobius' brain began to race, trying to pick up clues from what he was hearing.
63 branches in this unit alone. 63 branches in this unit alone.
This unit alone. That means there are several. Think Mobius. Think!
He began to speak aloud, "The main timeline branched, that means there are a lot of timelines now, what if each timeline has now a TVA? Could it be that..."
On the screen he looked at Loki and asked, "Who are you?"
Loki, looking shocked, slowly turned around and began to breathe heavily before releasing a gasp, which Mobius and those around him in front of the screen repeated in echo.
Where the statues of the three timekeepers should be, there was a single statue, that of the man Loki and Sylvie were with before.
"Casey! keep looking, cross-reference the data, try to figure out what date it is, I need my Tempad!" Mobius ran to his office.
_____
Loki looked back at the one who was not his Mobius and did not answer, quickly assessing the danger, he had to find a way to find the TVA he knew, but first he had to escape since Hunter B-15 seemed to have called a squad to stop him. He concentrated, closed his eyes, and saw the room he wanted to teleport to, the one he had arrived in. He felt the suction, then reopened his eyes, he was there, the relief short lived, because it would not take them long to find him. Still, he summoned a spear to put across the door, to at least delay their arrival in the room.
Think about it Loki, you're not supposed to be here, but now that the timeline is branching, how can they find you? Everything is chaos...
Spinning around in the room, he sighed, wondering how the situation could have slipped away from them like that. In fact, he knew, they had never been in control of the situation, their enemy was ahead of them.
Sylvie... who had not hesitated to betray him while he for the first time had found a "glorious purpose" that was greater than him, in fact it had nothing more glorious, because he no longer needed glory, he had discovered that it was much more rewarding to fight for a cause greater than himself. But now...
Mobius... His Mobius, where was he? How to find him? Did he get through it? Had he been able to warn all the other agents? He missed him so much, his reassuring presence that had the power to calm him down. How he had developed such a strong bond in such a short time was something that still amazed Loki. In Mobius, he had found someone who had believed in him when he had only seen the worst Loki was capable of, who had seen beyond what Loki was showing the world.
He had told Sylvie that love was not real, but in the end...love had a name.
Mobius…
"Mobius...", lost in thought, he didn't realize he was saying his name out loud.
When suddenly the now familiar sound of a Timedoor opening made him turn around. Summoning his sword, he braced himself ready to attack.
The Timedoor was just forming, when he heard the door to the room trying to be forced open, as voices shouted at him to open it from the other side.
Suddenly a figure he knew well stepped through the time door, "Loki! It's me Mobius!"
Loki, suspicious, did not dare to let his guard down. What if it wasn't his Mobius? How could he be sure?
The man in front of him looked uncertain and did not move forward. He lowered his hands in surrender as the banging on the door grew louder and louder.
"Loki, it's me, Mobius, the real one."
"How can I be sure?"
"Ask me a question. Something only the two of us would know."
Loki began to think quickly, what question to ask? Then suddenly he knew.
Cheeks slightly flushed, he asked, "Where did our first kiss take place?"
Mobius shook his head and smiled fondly, "The elevator."
Refusing to give in to the relief that washed over him, Loki asked another question to be sure, "Why?"
Mobius sneered, "To shut you up."
"It is really you, my Mobius!" shouted Loki before rushing into his arms. Mobius closed them on him. In an instant they reconnected with the emotions and sensations of their last embrace. Once again Loki felt like he was home.
"Yes, it's me." The door rattled, interrupting them. Mobius let go of him, took his hand and pulling him behind him, he led him to the Timedoor saying, "Quick, let's get out of here first, the explanations will come later."
They rushed through the Time Door, which closed on them as the door to the room gave way to the guards.
It was odd because they ended up in the same room, but in the TVA that Loki knew, there was the table and chairs from the last interrogation before Mobius went to join Loki in the Timecell. It seemed like only yesterday that Mobius had refused to believe him, blinded by jealousy as he himself had said."
"You-"
" How-"
"You first," Loki told him.
"Come on, let's go sit down," Mobius told him. They did, but instead of being face to face, separated by the table as they had been every time they were in this room, Mobius slid his chair next to him.
After an awkward silence, Mobius began to speak, "So, you and Sylvie..." then he stopped, aware of what he had just said.
Loki raised his head, shocked. "You... you saw?" he didn't even give him time to answer, "Mobius! I swear I didn't mean to kiss her, I didn't even respond to the kiss, I don't even know why she kissed me, I've never felt that way about her, never, you know that, Mobius, it's you I love, I know we haven't really had time to talk about our relationship and I'm not the kind of person who can be trusted and I've lied in the past, but please, you have to believe me, I would never- Hmph"
Mobius had not let him finish and had crashed his lips against those of Loki. He kissed him in the same way as their first kiss in the elevator, the difference was that it was no longer their first kiss, it was a kiss of reunion, of familiar sensations, of shared intimacy.
When they separated to catch their breath, Mobius murmured, his lips against his, "This is really the best way to shut you up..." and laughed softly.
"Hey!" Loki pushed him gently. Then he got serious again, because he wanted to make sure Mobius believed him, "Mobius, I'm serious."
Mobius took his hand and replied, "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I didn't feel jealousy, I'm human after all, and seeing the man I love kiss another woman was pretty hard to watch. But I also chose to trust you, that means all the time and not just when it suits me. So if you tell me that kiss meant nothing to you, then I believe you."
This time it was Loki who barely let Mobius finish his sentence and who put his lips on his, settling astride Mobius' knees and putting his arms around his neck. This time, they took their time, the kiss was soft and slow, then they caught their breaths, their foreheads pressed one against the other, neither of them wanting to be separated more than by a few centimeters.
Suddenly Loki kissed Mobius again, this time forcefully, he was shaking, his hands clutching Mobius' back, holding him tightly. Mobius, feeling a wetness on his cheek, pushed him gently.
"Hey, hey easy Loki, it's okay, it's okay now."
Loki " I-I, I really thought I had lost you, when your double asked me who I was, I thought you had completely forgotten about me."
Mobius wiped away the tears with his thumbs, letting his hands linger on Loki's cheeks before kissing him gently. Then he cradled Loki's head on his chest, resting his chin on his head as he hugged him tightly, Loki's arms wrapping around him again.
"Never, you hear me, never will I forget you. And even if I did forget you, I'm sure you'd find a way to get my memory back."
They stayed like that for a few more moments, tasting the relief of having found each other again and of having once again overcome an obstacle. Together.
Then Loki came down from Mobius's lap and held out his hand to help him stand up.
"I guess there's a lot to do now that the timeline is branching out."
"Thanks for the reality check... but yes you're right, as nice as this interlude has been." replied Mobius, keeping Loki's hand in his. Then he continued, walking towards the door, "Come on, it's time to introduce you as a member of the team."
At those words, Loki had a strange feeling, something like belonging, and asked with a smile, "What's the TVA's motto again, For all time...?"
"For all time. Always." answered Mobius.
Loki squeezed Mobius' hand as he continued to walk forward. When Mobius opened the door, he repeated softly, "For all time. Always. Together."
They didn't know what was going to happen, but one thing was certain now, they would face it. Together.