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The curtain opened and the first thing he saw was a yellowed tree set, strange contraptions lined up on the stage, and a sign to the left that read, "Victor Timely and his astounding temporal marvel."
The crowd around him was fascinated as the silhouette of a man, whose face they could not immediately make out, was outlined against the light.
His voice rang out from the stage, cold and matter-of-fact, "It shakes our lives, but perhaps we can shake it.
At the end of the sentence, the man on stage was in the light, but Mobius' attention was drawn to a gasp from beside him. Then Loki whispered, "It's him."
Mobius, at first in disbelief, turned his head several times between Loki and the stage and whispered, "You made him sound like that terrifying figure..."
Then his gaze was fixed only on Loki as the God of Mischief whispered, his eyes fixed on the stage, "He is."
At that moment, Mobius had no doubt about the man on the stage. For Mobius had never seen Loki so terrified.
On Loki's face, he had seen the panic when Loki had told him what he had gone through to find him. He had seen the sadness when he mentioned Frigga or Thor. He had seen the fear when he spoke of Thanos. He had seen the defiance, the anger and all sorts of emotions on Loki's face.
But this pure, raw fear?
He had never seen it on Loki's face.
At that moment, it didn't matter who was on the stage, what they were investigating, or what their mission was.
Only Loki mattered.
Mobius did not wait to act.
He approached him and placed his hand in the God of Mischief's, squeezing it hard to get his attention. But Loki looked as if he was transfixed, so Mobius moved even closer and whispered in his ear, "Come on, we're leaving right now." Then, seeing that he didn't react, he insisted, "Loki! We're leaving! Now!"
Loki seemed to more or less come to his senses and let himself be dragged towards the exit of the theater. They went unnoticed as the people were captivated by the man on stage who had begun his presentation. Once outside, Mobius pulled Loki into a deserted alleyway next to the theater, summoned a time door and was about to go through when Loki stopped him, "No, Mobius, we have to stay, we have to stop him."
Mobius stood firm and replied, "We'll be back. That's the advantage of time travel. I don't care about this Victor, Kang and the whole thing. I don't care about the rest of the universe, I care about you. Just you. Come on, let's go home.
The last words seemed to convince Loki, who let himself be pulled through the time door that took them directly home.
Mobius took his hands and helped him to sit on the couch before kneeling down in front of him: "I'm going to call Hunter B-15 and I'll be right back."
Loki heard him make the call but did not try to understand the words. He could not shake the feeling of terror that had filled him when he had seen the man on the stage. Kang. To the end, he had hoped, but when his voice had been heard, even before he had seen him, Loki had known.
Even now, here, safe, he could not shake the terror that gripped his heart.
He put his head in his hands and tried so hard to concentrate on his breathing that he didn't hear the footsteps coming closer.
It was only when two hands rested gently on his shoulders and a familiar voice whispered in his ear that Loki realized Mobius had returned.
He was on his knees in front of him, looking at him with a worried expression. Mobius took Loki's hand and placed it on his own chest, saying, "I am here now, focus and breathe with me.
Loki obeyed, concentrating on the movement of Mobius' chest and his warm voice, which both soothed him and grounded him in reality.
"Yeah, that's good, just keep doing that. You're doing great. Continue."
Mobius didn't move and continued his encouragement over and over again until he was sure Loki had caught his breath and calmed down.
Then he sat down beside Loki and put his arm around Loki's shoulders, pulling him close.
Loki tried to smile but he couldn't and Mobius ran his thumb over his cheek and said quietly, "Don't force yourself, there's no need to pretend with me, you know that."
Loki leaned against Mobius' chest and breathed, "Please don't leave me...".
"I promise I'll stay," Mobius whispered into Loki's hair, tightening his arms around Loki's shoulders.
Loki continued, "Because you're the only one who... who..."
Mobius kissed Loki's hair and asked quietly, "I'm the only one who what...?"
Loki looked up and continued softly, "The worst part of it when I was thrown out by Sylvie, when I went through all those universes before I found you, the worst part of it was that you weren't there. Because now you are the only one who can chase the pain and fear away from me."
Mobius, moved beyond words, took Loki's face in his hands and, pressing his lips to Loki's, gave him a soft kiss.
Then he whispered, holding him close, "I'm not going to tell you not to be afraid because you can't control it. For you have a right to be afraid. So when you're afraid, remember that I'm here. Just remember that. For all time, always."
Loki nodded and whispered against Mobius' chest, "Yes, always."