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“All right, let’s have a little pie while we wait,” Mobius suggested, with an easy smile on his face as he walked behind Sylvie and Loki. What he thought would be met with chuckles was instead met with a lack of response from Loki and resentment from Sylvie. The latter turned to face Mobius, looking upset.
“Pie?” Sylvie repeated coldly.
“Yeah.” Mobius’s smile started to fade as he realized his humor wasn’t getting across as he had hoped. Loki, who was now pressing elevator buttons, turned to watch.
“What is the matter with you? You dragged me back here begging for help, so you must have some idea of what’s happening. Everything is turning to shit, and you want to leave it to them while we go and have some pie .” Her final words were spat at Mobius.
Sylvie was never known to be the calmest person in the room, but this level of anger from her felt unwarranted, at least in Mobius’s opinion. Loki, too, looked concerned and stepped out of the elevator. “Sylvie, wait –”
“No, I won’t wait. Come on. Let’s go and get some pie. Why not? It’s a great idea. Does it matter that the branches are dying? Clocks don’t tick at the TVA, do they?”
“Sylvie, this isn’t necessary,” Loki tried to cut in again, but it was futile.
Pure hostility and rage in her eyes, Sylvie took several steps closer to Mobius. “You found out you’re a Variant, and you haven’t even looked, have you?”
Mobius didn’t know what to say. He had engaged in a conversation with Loki, before, over the same kind of pie he had just been suggesting. Loki had asked him about his past. Mobius said he didn’t want to know. But for Sylvie to be naming it as a weakness was another thing.
“It’s just another bad day at the office for you. Timelines are just lines on a monitor. Doesn’t matter if a few disappear. Because you’ve never bothered to look if one of them was yours. Who cares if a few just disappear?” She paused, and after several moments couldn’t think of anything else better to say. “Enjoy your pie.”
She walked off, and Mobius and Loki stood dumbfounded. Loki glanced over to Mobius and joked, “I don’t think she likes pie.”
Mobius exhaled softly, which was the closest he could get to laughter at the moment. “Didn’t realize she’d… go that far,” he said, willing his voice not to shake.
Upon hearing his trembling tone, Loki’s brow knit, and he studied Mobius’ expression. “Hit a nerve again?” he asked gently.
“No…” Mobius muttered. “No, of course not,” he repeated with more resolve.
“You sure? I’m surprised you didn’t slap her,” Loki quipped.
Mobius tried to laugh, but it came out as an abortive dry cough. “I — well, sometimes she’s… She has a temper.”
“Listen,” Loki started. “Why don’t we go sit down over there,” he nodded toward an empty room, “and we’ll sort things out.”
Mobius nodded, and Loki led him to the room, which was eerily similar to the pie room, aside from the fact that there were booths instead of chairs. They sat across from each other, and Mobius let out a drawn-out sigh.
Loki observed Mobius’s expression for a moment. “So,” he began. “Talk to me. Are you alright? You can’t just – dismiss what she said.”
“It’s fine,” Mobius stated.
“No, it clearly isn't. Mobius, you’ve seen nearly everything about my own life. At least allow me this one thing from you.”
“Well… I don’t really think about what I do. What Sylvie said hurt because… it was right. If I mourned every lost branch in the timeline, I’d probably be pruned a long time ago. Now it’s just… second nature. It’s like seeing all the bad news in the world, and just being glad that it isn’t yourself.”
Loki listened intently. He rarely got to see Mobius open up like this. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s certainly better than what I’ve done with my time before the TVA,” Loki said.
Mobius hesitated, debating whether to continue. He averted his eyes, glancing down at the table, and ran a hand through his hair. “You didn’t see the consequences of most of your actions for yourself. Watching worlds end has been most of my job. Letting bad things happen because that was how the Sacred Timeline was supposed to proceed… it’s just how it is.”
“Well, not anymore.”
“No, not anymore.”
“I had begged her, you know. Not to kill him.”
“Kill the… what did you call him? The man at the End of Time?”
“Yes, He Who Remains. My point is, I begged her, but she got angry at me and we fought, and she ended up stabbing him anyway. Sylvie’s… difficult to reason with.”
“You’ve got that right,” Mobius muttered. “But she… sort of has a point. I’ve always been so focused on preserving the timeline that I never allow myself to think about the past, about being a Variant. I don’t want to see my past. I’m afraid that I might find something better, something worth fighting for, something worth… leaving all this behind. I mean, look at Hunter X-05. He’s in huge trouble after living a good life on Earth.” He leaned on the table and put his head in his hands. His voice started to quiver. “She thought I was – wasting time. I wasn’t. I wanted you guys to be happy, even while the timeline’s at risk. I… thought the pie was a good – good idea.”
“Well, it’s not too late to go get some pie,” Loki offered, watching Mobius rub his eyes.
Mobius didn’t respond and continued to bury the palms of his hands in his face. However, there was a loud sniffing sound that made it obvious to Loki that the TVA agent was crying.
“Mobius?” Loki asked, concerned.
“Don’t… Just give a minute,” Mobius mumbled, through his tears.
Loki, in all his life, had never been in such a situation as he had been now. Perhaps with his mother, he might have – but no, not now. Loki remained silent for a few moments, but then, with a motivation that shocked him, he stood up from his side of the table and sat next to Mobius.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “It’s all right.”
“No, it isn’t,” Mobius said, very unlike his normally optimistic self. He sniffed and continued. “This – I’m wasting so much time by doing all this. By making all this fuss.”
“You’re not,” Loki replied. “We can only wait for O.B. and Victor right now, and hopefully when they’re done fixing the Time Loom we can go on with the rest of the plan.”
Loki placed his arm around Mobius, and to his surprise, the TVA agent immediately leaned into him. Mobius still had his hands on his face, not daring to remove them and let Loki truly see the state of him at the moment. With Mobius’s head on his shoulder, Loki gently stroked his arm, not sure of what else to say.
Mobius took a deep breath, and took his hands off his eyes. His face was still red, and a little damp, but he seemed more contemplative now instead of sad. He stared at the ground and managed to say, “I’ve seen a lot of people…cry… before. I never thought I would be the one to – well.”
“Happens to all of us. Happened to me, my first day here,” Loki said. “Do you know how jarring it was, to be held captive by the Avengers, then suddenly told how I would die and that I’d have to spend the rest of my life here? All on the same day?”
“Ha, yeah… that was. That must’ve been a lot. I understand.” Mobius’s tears had mostly subsided by this point. He turned to glance at Loki. “Thanks.” He sat a little more upright, and Loki immediately missed the warmth on his shoulder. “I guess we should go find Sylvie… and the others…”
“Aren’t you mad at her?” Loki asked.
“No, she – it’s like I said. She sort of has a point. I needed that wake-up call. After all this is settled, I might as well find out what my life was like – should’ve been like, all that.” He rubbed his face, where it had nearly faded to its original color, and looked at Loki.
“You… don’t have to do it alone, you know,” Loki admitted. “I could… if it didn’t affect the timeline in any way… I could accompany you.”
“Really?” Mobius said, his eyes brightening.
“Yes, really,” Loki responded. “Listen, I’d much rather spend my time with you than any of these other TVA workers. I mean, Casey – he didn’t even know what a fish was.”
“When you put it that way, I guess,” Mobius agreed with a chuckle.
They were silent for a moment, but then Mobius heard a beep from the inside of his jacket. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his TemPad. Loki glanced at the screen. “Is that from O.B?”
Mobius nodded. “Yeah, we should probably go check out the situation with them.”
“All right.” Loki moved out of the booth and stood up, Mobius following suit.
“But after that,” he smiled, and moved his arms to gesture at him and Loki, “we can talk more about… this.”
Loki smiled back. "I'd love that."