Loki and Sylvie sit beside each other opposite of He Who Remains as they listen to him talk, but you can't trick a trickster. This is himself he’s dealing with here, and he knows all his tricks, so he knows before she does it that she’s going to try to kill the man. He jumps up just in time to stop her.
“What are you doing!” she yells, backing him up, sword to his throat.
“Hang on a moment. Let's just talk about it.”
“How bout we finish what we started and kill him?” She charges forward again but he yanks her back with his magic. He wonders if this is how Thor felt whenever his first instinct was to kill first and ask questions later. She swings her sword at him and he dodges.
“What if he’s telling the truth?
“So what?”
“I believe him.”
“Believe what? That a bazillion boogeymen will turn up just because we're gonna give people free will? He’s a liar Loki.”
“And I don't think he was lying. Not about that. Insane? Yes. But maybe he was telling the truth.”
“Better hurry. Timeline’s already branching.” He Who Remains yells at them from where he's still sitting at his desk watching them like it's a show.
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“That we think about it.”
“And what precisely is there to think about?”
“Weren’t you listening to what he was saying? That's the gambit, remove the dictator and what fills the void?”
“Ah.” she says in astonishment, like she just solved a mystery “You want the throne.”
“No.” is all he says.
“I don't believe you.”
“Sylive, the universe is in the balance, everything we know to be true. Everything. I know the TVA has hurt us both, but what if by taking him out we risk unleashing something even worse? All I'm suggesting is we just take a minute to think about it. I promise it's not about the throne.” he remembers having an argument along these lines with Thor, an argument that both feels like such a little time ago and a long time ago at once. Sylvie reminds him a bit of his brother in this moment, reckless. “I never wanted the throne.”
“What was I thinking about trusting you? Has this whole thing been a con?”
“Really? That's what you think of me… I thought we were friends. We’re the same person, I thought you would know me better.”
“We're not the same, you had a life. I had mine taken away from me. By him.” she points behind him at He Who Remains.
“Then we can change that, for others. Let's give the rest of the TVA their memories back, let's put a stop to this, together. But this, killing him is going to cause multiversal chaos.”
“You just want to go back to him.” she says, he doesn't understand who she's talking about for a second, then it clicks. Mobius. He gives her a questioning look. “I’ve seen the way you look at each other, I'm not blind. We were supposed to take down the TVA, not get sidetracked.” She pulls out her sword and advances on him, he backs up as the sword reaches his neck, putting his hands up in surrender.
“Listen to me, think about it. If the TVA gets their memories back they won't want to work there anymore, they’ll go back to where they’re from. Everyone will have free will.” He's now backed up close enough to the desk that he can subtly reach behind him and grab the tempad, playing it off as grabbing the desk for support and Sylvie too focused on his words to notice. He uses his magic to vanish it until he needs it. Sylvie lowers her sword in thought.
“There's not much time.” He Who Remains says, and Loki feels like he’s speaking directly to him, knowing what he’s going to do. Almost like he’s encouraging it.
“Consider it, it would work. And then you can start a new life, put this revenge behind you. They won't be able to do to others what was done to you.” he tells her, now advancing upon her, seeing his words sinking in. As he advances towards her she lifts the sword up again, though this time lacking some of the determination. “When you gave B-15 her memories back, she started fighting against the TVA. The others will do the same, they had their lives taken away just like you did. They deserve to have that life back just like you.” She lowers her sword now as he’s standing right infront of her. He knows his words took effect, people don't say he has a silver tongue for nothing. “Let's go back and fix things. The cost of killing him is too great.” he says and grabs ahold of her shoulder, he summons the tempand, opens a portal to the TVA and throws them both through it.
They land on the floor in a tangle of limbs, they untangle themselves and quickly get to their feet. He looks around, they're in the same room where he watched his life unfold on the screen, he exhales, they made it. He looks over at Sylvie just as she slaps him across the face. “You asshole, you could have warned me first.”
“We were in a bit of a rush if you didn't notice.” he snaps back.
“Oh, really? I couldn't tell.” she grumbles, and smoothes down her clothes. Making him all too aware of the disgusting shirt he’s still wearing, if only he could use magic here he would change.
He turns his head in the direction of the exit, he can hear chaos coming from another room, perhaps its Mobius. He remembers him saying he was going to burn this place to the ground. He turns to Slyvie “Lets go burn this place to the ground.” He repeats Mobius’s words and strides off down the hall in the direction of the noise, Sylvie not too far behind him.
They finally turn down the hall, entering the room with all the chaos. All the TVA agents are staring at the monitor up above in panic, showing thousands of branches in the timelines. Some field agents are setting out though Loki doubts it will do anything, the damage is already too deep. “Loki.” he hears and turns to see Mobius, standing next to Hunter B-15, this seems to have alerted others to their presence because a couple more heads turn.
“Mobius.” he says and makes his way towards him “We found him, the one who remains. He knows everything, he has everything planned out, knows everything that's gonna happen. It was terrifying. But we left him because we didn't want to unleash something worse. ” he says in a rush, finally taking a breath.
“Hey, calm down.” Mobius lays a hand on his arm “At least you guys are back.”
Loki looks at the hand laying on his arm then back to Mobius, his lips twitch up into a meek smile. “This place doesn't look too ‘burned down.’” he jokes.
Mobius rolls his eyes playfully “Hey it's a work in progress.” he stares at Loki then starts again “So what's the plan now?”
“Hey, listen up!” Sylvie yells as if on cue, climbing on top of one of the desks. Loki gestures to her as she’s about to answer Mobius’ question. She manages to get everyone's attention and their heads turn to her. “You’re all variants!”
There's an outroar, people protesting “It's true.” Hunter B-15 speaks up from her spot still beside Mobius “We had lives, families, before the TVA took us. I have my memories back, I remember all of it. The TVA took me and erased my memories, just like they did all of you.”
“We can give you them back.” He speaks up for the first time “We need to get you all out of here so we can use magic, and we can make you remember.”
“Why would we trust you? You’re fugitives.” one of the agents speaks up, others nod in agreement.
“You can trust them.” B-15 says, and he sees her share a smile with Sylvie.
“We have to fix the branches.” another says
“There is no fixing it.” Loki responds “There’s too many, they’re not in our control. The timeline is free.”
There's a murmur of mixed reactions among the agents, some denying, some in defeat, some in outrage.
“Do you want your memories back or not? I'm sure we’d be happy to leave you all running around helplessly like chickens with your heads cut off.” he shares a glance with Sylvie “The TVA is over. There's nothing you can do.”
Mobius reaches into his pocket and pulls out his tempad, “Where to?” he asks.
“Anywhere but here.” he looks around at everyone “Now's the time to decide, are you coming or not?”
The agents split, more coming towards Loki and Mobius, looking apprehensive while B-15 gives them nods of encouragement while some stay back, clearly in denial about what they told them. Mobius opens a time portal with his tempad and looks over to them, Loki waves his hand as if to say ‘after you’ and then Mobius walks through the portal, Loki following right after.
As soon as he steps out of the portal he takes in the scenery, they’re outside, he’s not sure where. Midgaurd obviously, he can tell that. They’re somewhere warm, it seems to be summer. It's night time, not a person in sight. There's something familiar about the scenery, as if he’s been there before. But definitely not this time period. Everything around them is old fashioned, a couple decades old at least. They’re outside an A&P Food Store, standing in the parking lot. He looks to Mobius “Where are we?” Perhaps he should be asking when as well.
“New York, 1962.” Mobius answers matter of factly as the last of the people come through the portal.
Ah, that would be it, New York. Now he knows why it's so familiar, though things have obviously changed since now and 2012. He cringes thinking about that, knowing this is the city he attacks under the mad titans control. He snaps out of it, not wanting to think of it at the moment.
Everyones standing around now, looking towards them for direction. He looks beside him to Sylvie “You ready?” she nods at him.
“Who's first?” Sylvie asks the crowd.
“Will it hurt” One of the agents speaks up, and he realizes he knows this agent. It's Casey, the one who doesn't know what a fish is.
“We’re just latching onto your memories and bringing them forward, it's painless.” Sylvie responds, which seems to make all of them feel better. Sylvie walks up to Casey and slowly puts her hands to his temples, they all watch fascination as his temples radiate with green energy as she uses her magic on him, reaching for his memories.
He then turns to Mobius who he finds is already staring at him, he suddenly feels nervous, like all of his clothes are clinging to him weird. Finally now that he has magic he returns his Aggardian leathers, wearing an outfit similar to the one he was wearing when he got taken, though more loungewear than fightwear. Though it doesn't seem to make him feel any better. “We gonna do this or what?” Mobius says.
Loki clears his throat, shaking out the tension in his hands before he walks towards Mobius. “Of course,” he responds.
He realizes how close they are now, he can feel Mobius’s breath on his skin. All he has to do is reach forward now, but he finds himself hesitating. He remembers when he was talking to Sylvie about how she gets into people's minds, how you have to make physical contact with the person and then grab hold of their minds, how he and Sylvie enchanted Alioth together. But he finds this different, because Mobius is a person, not a monster. He doesn't want to mess this up.
He thinks back to when the TVA brought him and Sylvie back from Lamentis-1, how Mobius accused him of falling in love with Sylvie, falling in love with himself. Loki was flabbergasted when he brought that up, surely Mobius didn't think that low of him. He may be a bit self centered and selfish at times but he would never sink so low that he’d fall in love with a version of himself. In all honesty he doesnt love himself that much, most of it's just an act he plays up as a defence mechanism, though he would rarely admit that to anyone.
But he has.
He admitted it to Mobius the first day they spent with each other, after he watched his life play out in front of him
He was vulnerable with someone. When he admitted the facade of liking to hurt people was part of the illusion, the cruel elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. A desperate play for control.
And Mobius… Mobius said he doesnt think Loki is the villain. And he never realized how refreshing it is to have someone actually see him, and not just see him as Thor’s villainous brother. Mobius has watched his life play out multiple times, in multiple different timelines, and he still doesn't see Loki as the villain. He even gave him the opportunity to prove himself, a chance no one has ever given him before.
He remembers how betrayed Mobius seemed when Loki left him to follow after Sylvie, and when the TVA took them back and Mobius was interrogating him, accusing him of working with her the whole time. Saying they were ‘swooning’ over each other. That's what caused the nexus event, them falling in love with each other. Pure chaos, two variants of the same beings falling for each other.
It's bullshit.
He didn't fall for himself, and he’s certain Sylvie didn't fall for him. Thinking back on that moment now most of what Mobius was going on about sounded like...jealousy? No, definitely not...maybe? Ok there was definitely a hint of jealousy there. Could Mobius…like him? Surely not. Why him of all people. He’s sure there are other variants of himself Mobius could fall for, probably much better ones. Ones that wouldn't betray him or did not attack a whole city, even if he didnt have free will.
But the fact remains that he still cant believe Mobius would accuse him of that, he sees Sylve as a friend, and maybe even a sibling. But definitely nothing romantic, that would just be weird. He doesn't even know what went through Mobius’s head when he accused him of it. Maybe he was clouded with jealousy, and the thought of Mobius being jealous makes his stomach do a flip, though not in a bad way.
But now knowing what he knows, he knows the real nexus event was that they were not supposed to die. He Who Remains decided what should and shouldn't happen and he wanted them to meet him. That wouldn't have happened if they had died on Lamentis. Two Lokis accepted their deaths, they did not fall in love with each other. He Who Remains caused the nexus event.
Zoning back in on the present he stares at Mobius and wonders how long he’s been lost in thought. Mobius is still staring at him, Loki clears his throat “All right.” He lifts his hands, until they hover by Mobius’s temples.
He thinks back to another one of his talks with Sylvie. There have been guys and girls, but nothing ever real. Just flings, nothing ever meaningful or lasting. But standing here with Mobius infront of him he thinks he found something meaningful, someone maybe worth bringing down some of his carefully built walls. It's a heat of the moment decision, he doesn't know what's come over him, and he hopes he hasn't misread anything, but he leans his head in till their lips are close to touching. He waits a second, giving Mobius the perfect opportunity to pull back, but he doesn't. So Loki leans in till their lips touch.
Oh
So this is what it feels like
Something real.
He almost forgets what he’s supposed to be doing. You're supposed to bring back his memories, you idiot. He scolds himself, lost in the fluttering feeling in his stomach as Mobius kisses him back. Almost like his mind went blank for a second, and that never happens to him. He’s always on top of things, never letting things distract his goals.
So he enters Mobius’s mind, searching for something. Going past all the TVA memories, he sees him catching variants, some different versions of himself (which is still weird to see) and some not. Finally he thinks he sees something, a flash of red, he focuses on it. It's Mobius on a red jet ski, a memory definitely from his past. So he latches onto it, bringing it forth and the rest of his past memories play out like a movie reel.
He sees Mobius as a child, with an older girl, playing in a playground. An older sister, he concludes. Then the memories flash through various moments from his teenage years, being in highschool, various dates (which he may or may not push to the side faster than the others), he sees Mobius obsessing over books, but they flash by so fast he can't catch the titles. Mobius riding jet skis is a very common theme in his memories, occurring in many ages of his life. He sees him becoming a professor at a university for a course on Vikings and Norse studies, that makes his heart speed up, no wonder Mobius was drawn towards all the Loki variant cases, he’s read myths about him before he even knew he was real. Loki wonders if he should find that weird, but he doesn't.
Then he sees Mobius finally leaving that job and pursuing what he really loves, riding a jet ski. He begins giving jet ski tours of the Key West. More memories fly by, Mobius holding a baby boy, a nephew, while his sister smiles at them. Then the kid is older, riding on the front of Mobius’ red jet ski as his sister watches with worry written all over her face from the shore. Another bunch of memories fly by so fast Loki doesn't see what they contain but then Mobius is alone at the beach riding his red jetski, the wind raging when suddenly his jetski gets knocked over and Mobius flies off, landing in the water. With the big waves from the incoming storm Mobius struggles to keep his head over water, Loki can feel Mobius’ panic and with a jolt he realizes he’s going to drown. Mobius continues struggling in the water when he spots the jet ski a little away from him, laying on its side. Mobius takes a deep breath and then fully submerges himself in the water, he uses all his strength to swim in the direction of the jetski. He finally makes it there and grabs hold of the handles and pulls himself above water. He somehow manages to get the jet ski to tip over and pulls himself on it. Then he gets it going again safely making his way back to shore. When he gets to land he stumbles off the jetski onto the dry sand and falls to his knees, catching his breath.
Mobius sees something from his peripheral vision and looks up, the TVA is there. They take him, soaking wet and still dazed, through the portal. Loki watches him go through all the things he did, getting the prisoner uniform, the ticket, and then the trial. But unlike Loki, they turn him into one of them. Erasing his memories.
Then Mobius is standing in the Tva in his uniform, and just like that the memories are over and he pulls himself from his mind. Loki’s in shock at everything he saw, and hopes Mobius doesn't hate him now for basically watching all his core memories. Then he realizes he’s still kissing Mobius and pulls away, watching his expression carefully. A single tear slips from Mobius’ eye.
“I do have a jetski.” he mumbles.
“Really? That's the first thing you have to say?” He says, and Mobius just shoots him a grin. He finally lifts his gaze from Mobius and looks around seeing Sylvie and some of the agents watching, she gives him a goofy smile then laughs to herself, going back to what she was doing. “What?” he says to the agents still staring, who promptly go back to minding their own business. He resumes looking at Mobius, who looks happy, finally remembering who he is.
“You’re not planning on kissing them too are you?” Mobius asks jokingly.
“No,” he laughs “Definitely not.”
“Good.” Mobius says, and then he leans in and kisses him again. And this time it's possibly better than the last, like he found something he didn't even realize he was missing.
Finally they pull apart again, and Loki smiles a genuine smile. “I should probably…” he gestures to the other agents who still need their memories back.
Mobius nods, “Yeah definitely, go do your thing.”
So he walks away with a smile on his lips, to go help the others remember.
Finally after everything is done and everyone has their memories back he stands next to Slyvie watching the others talk among themselves, though his eyes are only on Mobius, who's talking with B-15, whose actual name before her life was taken from her they found out is Gillian.
“Can you believe he thought we were in love with each other?” Sylvie asks, a hint of humor in her tone.
He laughs “That would be gross, uh, no offence.” he turns to her.
“None taken. We’re literally the same person, it would be weird. So.” she wiggles her eyebrows at him “You and Mobius huh? Definitely saw that one coming.”
“I'm still not opposed to stabbing you.” he grumbles and she punches him in the shoulder, with no intention of harm behind it.
Sylvie clears her throat, getting his attention once again. She shifts on her feet “I guess I owe you a thank you, for stopping me from killing He Who Remains.” she says.
“I'm sorry, what was that?” he asks playfully, cupping his ear. That earns him another punch. “Okay okay! I get it, and you're welcome. So what now?”
She sighs, looking around at the others again. “I'm going to try to convince the others to get their lives back and make sure people like me stop having their lives taken away.” Sylvie says.
He nods “Well for what it's worth I'm glad you can still get your peace of mind somehow.”
“What about this multiverse thing, if it's open isnt it going to cause a lot of trouble?” she asks.
“Probably.” he nods, she still looks like she's waiting for him to say something “Best not to worry about it now, we’ll deal with it when the time comes.” she nods at that.
“Sooo.” he starts again “What about your postman?”
Sylvie smiles at that “Things sort of fell apart in my revenge journey, but maybe I'll try to fix things.” She says “Though I think she prefers the term postwoman.” She winks at him then, “Go to him.” she says as she walks away to join some of the others.
Mobius locks eyes with Mobius and makes his way towards him till they’re standing in front of each other again,
“So you have all your memories back and the TVA is pretty much gone. Any idea what you want to do next?” Loki asks.
“There is one thing I'd like to do.” Mobius finally says, a smile forming its way on his face.
~~~
Loki breathes in the ocean air as he and Mobius sit on their jet skis in the ocean, Loki on a green one, and Mobius on his red one. They used the tempad to get to Key West, Florida in 1995. Loki can't help but notice how much happier Mobius seems now that he has his memories back, so much more at peace. But he also can't help but remember the memory of Mobius almost drowning. He wonders if Mobius is afraid of almost drowning again, and vows that as long as he’s here Mobius will never have to worry about that.
“It feels like a lifetime ago since I've been on one of these!” Mobius exclaims over the sound of the ocean.
And in reality it probably has been, multiple lifetimes even. Loki has no idea how long Mobius or any of the other TVA agents had been there for. But now they're back to where he’s originally from, doing what Mobius loves, together. Mobius starts up his jetski and Loki holds his hands out to enchant his into working.
“Woah woah woah you can't just do that. It ruins the magic.” Mobius exclaims, stopping him in his tracks.
“It is magic,” he shoots back.
Mobius rolls his eyes “You know what I mean, the magic of the ride. Here.” he reaches across and presses the red button, it rumbles to a start.
“You’ve never ridden anything like this on Asgard?” He doesn't know why Mobius is asking him this, he’s pretty much watched his whole life on repeat. Though maybe whether or not he rode one of these Midgard devices before wasn't a matter of importance.
“Horses.” he states, like it's obvious.
“Well, think of this as a horse.”
“This is nothing like a horse!”
“Just pretend!” Mobius exclaims “Come on, I know you’ve driven space ships before, how is this any different?”
“Well for one, it doesn't fly.”
Mobius rolls his eyes “Come on Loki, loosen up a bit!”
In truth this machine is pretty simple, it's just fun to annoy him a little bit. “Ok so you're gonna press down on the accelerator.” Mobius says pointing to a trigger looking thing “very slowly since you're a beginner until you start moving forward. And then from there, we ride.” Mobius says, excitement leaking into his voice.
Loki scoffs, “I think I can handle a simple Midgardian tool, I'm a god after all.” He doesn't like being called a beginner, he’s wielded much more powerful artifacts before, even an infinity stone, two to be exact. So without thinking he presses down on the accelerated harshly and the jetski ends up jumping out of the water and rushes forward, if he wasn't holding on he probably would have fallen off. He hears Mobius bark out a laugh and quickly lets go of the accelerator, coming to a stop again.
“Slowly!” Mobius says again, though a laugh. Then he presses on his accelerator, slowly picking up speed “Come on Mr. ‘I'm a god’, hurry and catch up!” Mobius yells behind him as he takes off.
They probably have other things to worry about, like the apparent opening of the multiverse according to He Who Remains, but that's for another day. Right now, as he listens to the wind and the sound of the ocean, he’s at peace. Something he thought he would never have, so he presses down on the accelerator gently, and rides off after Mobius, their laughs carrying with the wind. And together, they ride off towards the setting sun.