Chapter 2
Loki fell to the ground in the TVA, unaware it was a splintered reality of the one he had just left. He sat in anguish, he’d been unable to stop her, unable to sway her heart. He felt disheartened and betrayed, an utter fool who had fallen for his own trick. He thought perhaps he deserved this, after every lie he’d ever told he was now unable to ever be worthy of trust again. He buried his face in his hands and exhaled heavily.
“I’ll find you,” she had whispered…
Loki opened his eyes and played the moment back in his head. She had kissed him and the universe seemed to stop, but before she’d pushed him away she had whispered, “I’ll find you.”He dared to hope that kiss had been real for her too, not just a distraction to get him out of the way.
But why would she need to ‘find’ him? Didn’t she know where she’d sent him? Maybe she only knew he was at the TVA, he got to his feet and walked briskly from the hall. He ran down the corridor of windows and to the archives, searching for any sign of her.
Loki spotted Mobius and relayed the news brokenly, omitting the part about her potentially playing with his heart. He fought to keep his mind from reeling as he explained but the man stared at him in confusion and tried to calm him placidly.
It hit him then: this wasn’t the Mobius he knew. Loki looked over and saw the statue where once was a Time Keeper and now bore the resemblance of the man they’d sought out at the citadel at the end of time. His heart fell and he was shaken at the reality he now faced. Sylvie had sent him to the TVA, but this was uncharted territory and she had no way of knowing which reality she had sent him to.
Loki fell back against the bookshelf beside him and slid to the ground as his mind reeled.
“I’ll find you.”
She had known she was sending him to a fractured reality. He felt a stab of pain in his heart.
“I’ll find you.”
It echoed in his mind over and over. She had known, and she had sent him anyway. But she said she would find him. What did she mean…? He struggled to parse the implication, then his breath caught: that meant their story wasn’t over.
Loki exhaled heavily, the weight of everything they’d been through hitting him at once.
“Hey, come on man, what’s your name? What department? Let me help you out,” the alternate Mobius tried to engage with him while the alternate B-15 looked skeptical.
“Don’t worry about me, I’m from a different part of the timeline and I’ve come back too soon,” he tried to reason as he got up.
“Okay…” Mobius didn’t sound convinced as he eyed him dubiously.
“Please, Mobius, you’ll meet me in the future, you’ll just have to trust me—“
“I don’t even know who you are, how’m I supposed to trust you?” Mobius shrugged at him unconvinced.
“Jet skis,” Loki said hopefully.
“What?” Mobius asked in quiet surprise.
“You love jet skis, just, trust that I know you. I know you love jet skis but you’ve never ridden one, and you keep a jet ski magazine at your desk,” Loki explained eagerly.
“Now please, Mobius, I’ve been sent to the wrong part of the timeline and I need to get back.”
“Oh come on Mobius, you can’t seriously be buying this? You don’t even know him!” Hunter B-15 looked completely unconvinced but Mobius nodded and pulled her aside.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll deal with this guy, just go check in with Renslayer and update her on the situation,” he said quietly. B-15 still looked a bit troubled but nodded and left Mobius to deal with Loki.
“Okay that’ll probably buy you a head start. What was your name by the way?”
“Uh, don’t worry about it, timelines and all that,” Loki avoided giving away any more information than he had to.
“Okay well where did you come from?” Mobius asked reluctantly.
“The end of time.”
Mobius laughed, “yeah, you are pretty far from home, how’d you wind up here?”
“Someone sent me here, but I don’t think she knows which here I’m at,” Loki realized that wouldn’t make any sense and sighed, “I know this all sounds mad, I know the odds are completely against me, but I think I just need to get a TemPad and start looking.”
Mobius stared at him looking baffled then sighed, “alright, fine. I’ll get you a TemPad.”
Loki tilted his head, “why are you helping me?”
Mobius shrugged, “I dunno, call it a hunch. Sometimes you just get a feeling about somebody, besides, you know about my jet ski magazine.”
“Anybody could find that just laying on your desk,” Loki said suspicious that this was too easy.
“Yeah but nobody’s ever asked me about it. So I’ve never told anyone,” he smiled, “besides, you remembered, I gotta assume that means we’re friends.”
Loki smiled genuinely, “we are.”
“Okay so I’m helping a friend. Come on, Hunter B-15 is a fast walker so we don’t have much time.