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Loki walked in the familiar door, but the place itself was unfamiliar.
"Why are you here, Asgardian?" The voice didn't sound... familiar.
There were points that were sort of familiar but it was just different enough (along with everything else).
"I mean no harm, Doctor. I'm - seeking passage."
"You're armed."
"One ought not to traverse the multiverse without some kind of weapon."
"What have you brought in exchange? I'm not a taxi service."
The words were said with little humility, as though the speaker looked down on the lower classes. And not quite the Doctor Stephen Strange that Loki remembered, even though their encounter was brief - and not in this world at all - perhaps it hadn't happened. There was a shadow that Loki felt, more than saw, before it vanished. Loki hadn't thought of that, and wished he had. "Depends, what magical relic could you want?"
Strange laughed, in an odd, mirthless way. "Any magical relics are here, in this Sanctum and the others. I have need of nothing, I have want of nothing. What do you know of the multiverse, and how do you know you're in the wrong one?" It was still dark in here, too dark, it permeated the walls and the energy of the room - even more than the Void at the end of time.
"Depends. How much time are you willing to give me?" Things around the room glowed, a bit, a reddish-purple hue.
"Time - as you know - is irrelevant. Start at the beginning."
"The Time Variance Authority."
"Mm. I'm listening, Asgardian. What about them."
"They're the ones pruning. Destroying timelines. Or... they were, probably still are since the organization still exists, the thing is - the universe is imploding perhaps yours and - I can stop it but I need to get ... back to my universe to do it."
"How do I know that you won't destroy my timeline?" There was a flicker of a silhouette that Loki saw, and the shadow didn't exactly resemble the proud Sorceror. He was gaunt, and dark-eyed.
"You don't. I'll do my level best not to."
"You ask me to trust you, god of liars?"
"I'm also the god of outcasts, too - remember?" Loki would cling to that, especially. Make that work in his favor. "I expect that in this universe you're even more isolated in your ice tower than mine."
There was too much hesitation, as though Strange were going to cast him out and refuse his request but had thought better of it. Loki felt it. "You don't always use dark magic," Loki said, "not in the universe that I'm from."
"You didn't answer my question," there was another too close rush of air, Strange was pacing and moving the rooms, meant to confuse his guest. Loki's eyes had adjusted enough to see. He felt a hair plucked from his head. "Where and when do you ask to be sent. There is an error margin, you understand. No guarantees. No returns. No passage back."
Loki nodded. "Fine. To Pompeii, AD 69, my universe, the one that I'm aware I'm adopted, I look like this, and a TVA agent named Mobius knows me, and he'll hopefully find me there." Strange paused. "You can't go to a place you've already been. It won't work, and it will create another branch. You know this, god of liars."
"Yes, the point is my ... friend. He'll."
"What? Help you?" Strange sounded mocking, but in the same sort of tone that spoke of someone that solved everything themselves. "I don't think you want to go there at all. You want to go to wherever your other self is because you feel that you are just as responsible for their actions in causing this. That's where you want to go. However, you want the agent that knows you so you'll feel validated if you need to kill her for some reason."
Red-purplish tendrils swirled a bit, waiting for Loki's answer.
"That's true."
"But she's not at the end of time anymore, she went wherever her chaos would be relatively safe from the man at the top, right. There's always someone bigger." Strange sounded odd, disillusioned, almost. As though he only kept his post out of duty, though all the meaning was gone from it.
"Can you locate her? Or even the Mobius that - knows who I am."
"That's a very non-specific request."
"It's to find an individual at a point in time."
"Easier to find a relative."
"Sylvie is technically me, just - a different version." Thor wasn't related by blood, so that wouldn't work either.
A yellowish lamplight glowed and the dark figure stepped into slightly better light.
He only briefly resembled the confident sorcerer that had sent Loki free-falling. This one had a dark aura, twisted and a bit painful. He looked tired and like he had lost everything in his world that mattered to him.
He waved his hands, skilled at his craft, but - not quite the same, fluid motions. A portal opened, though it was shaky and didn't hold well. Probably wouldn't for long
"I expect you can find them both here, but I don't make promises."
Loki nodded and stepped into the purplish light. "Thanks." Strange gave a tired nod, before vanishing entirely.