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Loki had made his decision. Despite no longer wanting a throne, he was going to destroy the Loom and create a new anchor for the multiverse at the end of time. His glorious purpose and burden were here, and he no longer wanted any of it.
He needed to say goodbye to Mobius. Or at least say goodbye to a version of Mobius that would remember. Loki felt like his heart was splitting in two at the knowledge of leaving Mobius behind. Even while he would be winning by most standards, he was failing at the one thing he wanted. Mobius. Loki was tired of failing. This entire process had been a study in failure after failure. A failure to fix the Loom, which turned out to be impossible despite the nearly countless repetitions trying. A failure to stop Sylvie from killing He Who Remains in the first place without killing her himself. A failure to find a way to save everyone and not end up alone.
Loki slipped back into the moments when everyone was assembled before trying to save the Loom. He stared at Mobius, the only person who had ever noticed that anything was different, that anything was wrong, in the millions of times Loki had tried to fix it all.
“Do you trust me?” Loki asked Mobius as Casey and O.B. were a flurry of motion around them.
“Of course, I do” Mobius replied his brow furrowed in confusion at what for him was a non-sequitur in the business of trying to prevent the overload of the Loom. Loki raised his arm and waved it, pausing everyone expect Mobius and himself. “Loki! What did you do?” Mobius asked concern in his voice while looking around and the unmoving figures surrounding them.
“It’s okay, I just paused time for everyone but you and me. I know this sounds crazy but please just listen.” Mobius nodded silently, and Loki continued, “We failed the first time at fixing the Loom. Victor was destroyed by the time radiation as soon as he stepped foot onto the walkway. The Loom overloaded and the TVA failsafe protocol sent everyone back to their respective timelines.”
“But then how are we here, now, before we even tried to fix the Loom?” Mobius asked.
“I started time slipping again all over the timeline. I found Casey, then B-15, then O.B., and then you. O.B. figured out how to build a time pad and I thought if we could get everyone back together, we could use our collective temporal aura to come back and try again. But we were too late and as soon as we got everyone together time started dissolving. But I figured out how to control the time slipping I came back here. I spent centuries trying to upgrade the Loom and stop the overload, but when we finally got the throughput multiplier in place it still didn’t work.” Loki’s voice cracked slightly, and he cleared his throat before continuing, “But it still didn’t work. The Loom isn’t capable to scaling to process an infinite number of branches. It overloads every single time, destroying everything.”
Mobius was staring at Loki with a devastated look on his face. “But, how…” Mobius trailed off, a loss for words.
“I thought that if I went back further, if I could convince Sylvie not to kill He Who Remains in the first place that none of this would happen in the first place. But that was his plan all along. And the only way to stop Sylvie was to kill her…” Loki trailed off, willing Mobius to understand, and knowing that he would. “So I have to destroy the Loom and set the Multiverse free. But without an anchor it will die. I have to anchor it to the end of time and remain there.” Loki looked down, unwilling to meet Mobius’s eyes. “Someone wise told me that most purpose is more burden than glory.”
“No. Loki, No! There has to be another way.” Mobius was frantic and grabbed Loki shoulders. He was practically yelling now, “There must be another way! We can fix it!” His voice dropped as he closed his eyes, “I can’t lose you” he whispered.
Loki pulled Mobius into tight hug as if he could keep both of them from breaking. Mobius hugged him back just has tightly, as if to keep him there forever. “I’m sorry.” Loki whispered. “I love you.” Mobius tilted his head up and captured Loki’s lips in a fierce kiss.
They broke the kiss, and touched foreheads, still embracing each other. “I love you too” Mobius whispered back.
“Goodbye, Mobius” Loki squeezed tight one last time before pulling away. Loki restarted time before he could change his mind and give into the urge to stay, to burn everything so he could be with Mobius. He needed to save everything instead. He walked quickly to the door that led to the gangway, slipping through with both Mobius and Sylvie on his tail. He closed and locked the door to prevent them from following.
“I know what kind of god I want to be” Loki told them through the door, “For you. For all of us.” Loki met Mobius’s eyes.
“No!” Mobius shouted.
But Loki walked through the door anyway out onto the gangway. He was immediately assaulted by the time radiation tearing at him and ripping his TVA clothes away. He allowed them to be torn away, revealing a version of his Asgardian armor below. He conjured his helmet as well. If he was going to be a god, he should look the part. About halfway down the walkway he stopped, gathered his power, and destroyed the Loom. It exploded, sending branches of time in every direction. Loki froze them, preventing them from burning in the explosion. He than reached forward, sending magic down every branch he touched to ensure it’s survival. Loki began gathering each branch weaving them into a new form while walking to the end of time. It was the hardest thing he had ever done. Once he reached the throne at the end of time, he sat down and sent one last burst of power through the multiverse cementing the branches into Yggdrasil.
Loki swam with the immense power of time and the multiverse flowing through and around him. He existed both everywhere and nowhere, and could see both everything and nothing, infinite possibilities. All was well, and it only cost him Mobius.