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Love is a dagger.
It's beautiful. And it can kill you.
At the end of time, Loki had cut himself with it countless times. To infinity.
He was tired.
Time had come. Either it would kill him, or it would elevate him to his most glorious purpose: escaping the role of outcast. Finding love.
He found Mobius on Earth, in his original timeline. He was on the water, riding a jetski.
Loki smiled. This was Mobius at his most glorious. And this time, he was ready to make trouble. When Mobius came ashore, Loki went to meet him.
Mobius spotted him. And the most glorious smile came to his face.
"Loki?"
He ran up and hugged him. Loki squeezed him tightly back.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be... you know..."
"Watching over the timelines?"
"Well... yeah."
"Already done. Watched them till the end of time."
"Already? But... time has barely passed."
"Trust me, it has. I came back here, back to you, as soon as it happened."
"What happened?"
"The branches of timelines that I held in my hands, they grew. They grew into Yggdrasil. Timeline branches so numerous they formed a tree, the first tree, the tree out of which all life was born and ultimately died. Chaos incarnate. I saw all of it, the beginning to the end. And the thing is, at the end, it just went back the other way."
"It went back?"
"Yggdrasil's roots were planted in the void at the End of Time. All that life energy was drawn into its roots, and traveled all the way back up to its branches, to the Beginning of Time. And the cycle started over again. Nature and Time and Magic, working just as it was always meant to. No more guardian required. No more TVA. No more civilisation at the End. Just Nature taking its natural course."
"That's beautiful."
"Yes, it was. So I came back to you. Because I needed to see you."
"To see me? Why? Don't you want to go to Sylvie first?"
Tears pricked at Loki's eyes as he grinned. "Mobius, I love you. I had to come down and tell you that. I had to let you know, it was you all along. You, who got me through the loneliness, and pain, and anguish. Just thinking about coming back to you again after it was all over is what kept me going."
"Truly?"
"Yeah."
"Wow," said Mobius. "I love you too."
"You do?"
"Yeah. You are my home, Loki. I love you. Whatever it takes, I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. If you'll have me."
"Thank goodness. I didn't know what you were going to say."
"Did you really think I'd reject you? How do you not know I'm in love with you, that I have been for a while?"
"I didn't know!" Loki cried defensively, "I've watched you on so many different timelines, and I still don't know what makes you tick!"
"You watched me on other timelines?"
"I missed you. I wanted to understand you better."
"You could've talked to me."
"I was afraid to."
"Why?"
"I was afraid... of messing it up. I was afraid that if I did, I'd find myself further from you than I could withstand. I was afraid that the timelines would branch, and keep me away longer."
"Yet here you are."
"Here I am."
"And, is it everything you hoped for?"
"Everything and more."
They smiled at each other.
"You've really given me clarity on my life, you know," said Mobius.
"So have you."
"You challenge me. You drive me crazy. And I love you for it."
"So do I."
"So where do we go from here?"
"I suppose we could start with you teaching me to ride that jetski."
Mobius's face lit up. "I'd love to."