A lonely throne
Loki had been sitting on his throne for, what - all of an hour? - before the feelings of self-appreciation and pat-on-the-back pride began to wear off.
Well, maybe more than an hour.
Fine. It was three days.
But he had a lot to be proud of, thank you very much. He had single-handedly saved the entirety of existence in a move that he, and only he, could have pulled off. Sacrificing himself for the sake of the branched timelines and holding them together with his frankly insane amount of power was the most selfless thing he’d ever done, and he doesn’t regret it for a second. He’d do it again. And again. And again. As he’s already experienced (haha time slipping joke).
But that’s not to say that he’s a little bored.
All Loki’s life, he’s been on the move, whether that be following his grand ambitions of power, or avoidance of those who disagreed with the aforementioned grand ambitions of power - some would call it being on the run, but Loki didn’t “run” from anything. But now, all he has to do is hold together the entirety of existence, and he is running on the self-satisfaction that that gave him. Loki wasn’t made to be alone. He has too many witty retorts and a sparkly personality that’s made to be around other people.
And if he’s honest with himself, which he’s been getting really good at lately, he misses his friends. Casey, OB, B-15, Sylvie. And most importantly, Mobius. Mobius and his sarcastic replies and honest personality, and his protective attitude for those he cares about.
Mobius, and his jet skis and two boys on the timeline that he’s probably already gone back to.
Look at him. Resorting to bad jokes and moping about people he wouldn’t see again. Ugh. He's better than that, isn't he? Loki doesn’t mope. Loki connives and plans ahead to the next great thing! He’s the God of Mischief, for the love of gods! But a fat lot of good that would do when he’s stuck on this gods forsaken throne holding the ENTIRETY OF EXISTENCE TOGETHER. He just needs to accept that this is the way of things now and move on.
.
.
.
Gods, but accepting things is fucking tedious.
.
.
.
Why should Loki have to accept anything?
Who’s to say he can’t eventually get out of this? He is the Loki, Prince of Asgard and the God of Mischief! Sure, someone’s always going to have to be on this throne holding the timelines together so they won’t die, but why can’t a piece of Loki split off every now and again to, say, visit Mobius? Or anyone else, not just Mobius (there's absolutely no reason why Mobius is front and foremost in his mind. No reason at all). He’s created copies of himself so many times before, why couldn’t he do it now? Yes, there's the little thing of all his power going towards keeping the timelines alive, but he’s stronger than that, right? If he could only try… he reaches for that spark of power within himself, molding off a portion of it to clone…
The timelines flickered…
holy mother of asgard, he felt like he was about to pass out and throw up all at once.
.
.
.
Loki had to take a minute to regain his composure after that. It was bold of him to assume he could clone again on the first try with a significantly larger force draining his power, something that he’s never done before. But he was sure he could do it. There was enough in him that he could siphon some off for other uses. And he was determined! And it wasn’t like he didn’t have all the time in the world to figure this out.
Oh dear gods he really needed to leave this place, the puns were getting out of hand. If he wasn’t careful, he’d begin to sound like Mobius, start pulling out the dad jokes.
He’d spent centuries under OB and Timely learning whatever that advanced engineering for the extremely bored was, he could most certainly spend an eon relearning to clone himself if that’s what gets him out of here.
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Some time later (unknown, Loki is outside the realm of time, obviously)
Finally, FINALLY, he was able to create a standing, realistic, full fledged version of himself that stood separate from his current body. And, bonus, not pass out while doing so - he’s had a couple close calls that had the timelines’ flickering a little too much for comfort. Now is the part where he finds Mobius, makes a grand entrance, of course, and… then what? Declare that Mobius drop everything to, what, talk to him? Loki can’t even give a hug, let alone anything else - although he didn’t know what that “anything else” would be. Would Mobius even spare the time for him? Has Loki broken their relationship too much by sacrificing himself for the greater good? And, good gods, what if Mobius doesn’t remember him? What Loki figured the time slipping wrong and he finds the wrong Mobius again? He doesn’t think he can handle expending all this energy towards something that won’t even give him relief. And he can’t just give up either - he still has the burden of existence sitting solely upon his shoulders. Would it even be worth it, in the end…?
Loki’s spiraling , he knows, but now he’s stuck in this never ending loop of pain and regret and emotions that he can’t escape he can’t get out of his head stop stop stop-
There’s a pull, somewhere deep inside him, a pull towards somewhere unknown, but familiar. Loki leans towards it, basks in the warmth this gives, and he finds himself slipping, ever so slightly away… he pulls himself together just in time, before he loses hold of the timelines altogether.
Somehow, in that mess of emotions, Loki was able to locate whatever that was that comforted him, and he has the smallest inkling of what that comfort might be. How he found it, he has no idea, and he doesn’t particularly wish to look too deep into that at the moment, but in the end, he’s found his way out.
Now, the final step, to time slip his image, not his body. Not that everything before this point hadn’t been out-of-this-world difficult (literally), but now was the true test of the extent of his power. To be split over such a large distance, even if he’s holding the very timeline in his hand requires an extraordinary amount of concentration and power, something Loki’s not even sure he has. But if there’s anything he knows for sure, it is that he will find a way out of this lonely throne, no matter how long it takes him to do it.
And if the gods decide that he hasn’t already suffered enough and Loki finds the wrong Mobius, he will keep on trying until he finds his man, because godsdammit, Loki is the God of Mischief and he’ll make it work out.
Not that Mobius is his man.
Loki doesn’t even know where that train of thought even came from.
Obviously he’s just going delusional from all that time spent alone - look at the sad, witless jokes he’s resorted to!
That’s obviously the reason.
FOCUS.
Mobius.
Mobius and his quaint suburban home with his two sons and the jet ski’s he was always dreaming about in the TVA.
Mobius, and the sense of security, of warmth and acceptance that is always emanating from him. Of the way that he never takes Loki’s bullshit, calls him out on his schemes but is always willing to follow whatever brilliant (even if they are possibly, the tiniest bit not the most well thought through) plans Loki’s decided to do, because that was Mobius’s nature; steadfast and loyal.
Loki could feel the tug again, coming from right behind his ribs (absolutely not related to his heart whatsoever) and followed it, kept chasing that warmth, the way he would always and forever do so. For all time.