i) “And now, that’s where I'll die,” Sylvie said, and they turned to face their demise. Lamentis-1 was nearing its end, and they watched as the planet gravitated ever closer to the moon. A lake rippled in front of them, drowned out by louder sounds. The atmosphere radiated a lilac hue, icy comets lacing the sky with glimmering light. Meteorites fell, lit up by the warm flood lights nearby. They sat side by side on a damp, craggy rock.
It was hard to see in the dark purple light when Sylvie looked at Loki. She glanced at his solemn face and his hair and then his stupid office shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow and secured with buttons. She studied the various white and light pink, self-inflicted dagger marks on the insides of his arms with familiar curiosity.
“Another similarity,” she said, then started to peel back her own sleeves. The Loki variant lifted her arms up for a split second for him to see and gave a short, affiliative smile before her arms bounced back down to rest in her lap.
“I suppose through different reasons,” Loki said after a beat. Watching the monstrous planet reflected in Sylvie’s eyes. They could get rid of them if they wanted, but they didn’t. Her hair fluttered slightly in the wind, carrying with the blow an awful smell of sulphur and tar. It was cold, Loki thought for the first time. She did not turn back around, but she answered.
“Hmm,” she thought, “I’m not so sure about that.”
Loki once again turned around to watch the dying planet. The two of them stayed silent whilst everything else was in chaos. It seemed ironic of sorts. Shards of meteors crash landed behind them and in front, shuddering the ground with force and clouding dust; camouflaging the hills and dilapidated structures of the mining colony from view. There were faint screams of unlucky civilians fleeing for an escape, barely heard over the thunderous debris.
“It’s difficult, being on the run all of your life,” Sylvie said. Her words didn’t sound regretful, she simply spoke with uncomplicated honesty. Loki offered;
“To be someone you’re not. To lose.”
“To be alive,” they looked at each other and smiled although their eyes were sad. At the very least they would not die alone. The two fugitives stayed seated on the alien rock until the flame-like glow of an unwelcome doorway appeared.
*
ii) As soon as Mobius stepped through the portal, he heard him.
“--conceited, torturous, no wonder they abandoned you, wanted you dead--”, Loki was in the middle of the timeloop room, hitting his head brutally with his fists. Lady Sif was nowhere to be seen. “--your whole life, a pathetic--”, Mobius discarded his previous anger. He believed, finally, what the Asgardian had said, but he was also betrayed by his Loki, he had evidence that the Time Variance Authority had been lying to him since he can remember, he only had a limited amount of time before they would find him, of course he was confused and stuck and mistrusting, but right now every thought seemed to disappear.
“Woah woah, Loki, hey, stop that, hey,” Mobius jogged over to him, his face softened from a frown as he had prepared to question the object of his study. He grabbed his wrists and pulled them to his sides. “What are you doing? Stop that.” He fully prepared for Loki to reject his embrace and push him away, but instead he thawed into it and they sank to the floor. Was this because of Sylvie? Because of the tape? Sif? Did he do this?
“Passing the time,” The god of mischief choked out, tears brimming in his eyes. He stopped to let out a short laugh, out of frustration maybe, or exhaustion. The flickering torchlight illuminated his smile lines. They knelt together on the marble floor, Mobius ever conscious of the ticking hourglass. He held one splayed hand on the plain of Loki’s back and one comfortingly stroked through his dark hair. He met him with understanding.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay,” he murmured as he clutched the prince in a tight grip. He rested his head on top of his own, looking at the glowing gateway with caution. Loki breathed into his tie. Without thinking about what he was doing, too preoccupied, the agent bent his head a little and placed a small kiss on Loki’s forehead. He had wanted to the first time that Loki had a breakdown in the first room with the projector in khaki, but he refrained. This time, it seemed, his subconscious decided for him. He knew showing vulnerability did not come easily to Loki, so he thought to help him out, to disarm him on his own trusting terms. If he could, he would perform a little magic trick in his palm - colourful fireworks perhaps.
“Did you just kiss me?”
“What, was I wrong to?” he asked softly. Loki snickered and shook his head as he came back to himself. He studied Mobius’ hand as he told Loki that he believed him about the variants, asking him if what he said involving Sylvie was true. They stood up on tired legs to make their leave. “You could be whoever, whatever you want to be. Even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you differently.” Loki smiled.