A Guide to Fixing Broken Things

Step Seven: Friendship

Loki POV

Loki wasn't quite sure of anything when he stepped through the time portal. His feelings were a jumbled mess of anger and sadness and guilt and a million others all at the same time. They came in different waves of intensity, but the weight of them all was making Loki's head spin. His pulse quickened as the portal behind him vanished, and he squeezed his eyes shut to block out the rest of the world.
 
What did I just do? He thought to himself. There was absolutely no logical reason for him to save Mobius. In fact, leaving him there would have been the smarter option. One less thing to worry about on his journey to power. 
 
So why had he done it? Was it just a spur of the moment game he decided to play, hoping to mess with the analyst's head? Was it a desire to prove that he wasn't what he had been called his entire life- a villain? Or was it because somewhere, deep down, Loki actually… cared?
 
"Did you have a good time without me?" Loki’s eyes flew open at the other Variant’s words. Lady Loki, in all her deadly glory, was lounging on a plush red couch with her legs propped up. She had a sly smile on her face, and Loki’s back straightened. She couldn't know about his true whereabouts.
 
“Splendid.”
 
Loki’s heartbeat only quickened as Lady Loki stood up, moving to stand in front of him. Her smile grew wider, as if she knew something that Loki didn't. But that was impossible. There was no way she could have known he followed them, unless-
 
“Another test, I presume?” He raised an eyebrow. Lady Loki grinned and nodded.
 
"And you failed," she said. "Unsurprisingly."
 
"I am known to thwart the plans of others. God of Mischief, remember?" Loki reminded her. She rolled her eyes.
 
"It's not the following me that I'm worried about," she told him, and Loki felt like he was being punched in the gut. "It was the fact that you saved them. Why?"
 
Why indeed? Loki thought. But aloud he said:
 
"Why beat them up in the first place? What did you gain from that little excursion?"
 
Lady Loki's eyes narrowed.
 
"It doesn't matter why," she huffed, even though they both knew that it very much did. "God of Mischief, remember?"
 
Her words brought Loki back to the first time he had spoken with Mobius in his office. Mobius had played the worst bits of his life onscreen as if it were some kind of movie for their enjoyment, then prodded into his mind, trying to glean a reaction from him. It should've been unkind of him, but Mobius had not been anything other than patient and stubbornly honest throughout the entire process. Despite Loki wanting to hate him for it, he found that it was nearly impossible. 
 
This doesn't look very mischievous to me. Mobius's words echoed around his skull. It was true- nothing that Loki had done or been planning on doing in New York had been out of mischief. It was only out of greed, jealousy, and a pointless quest for power he was never destined to have. Like he had told Mobius, a desperate play for control. 
 
"Do you enjoy hurting people?" Loki found himself asking before he could stop himself. Lady Loki's eyes widened a fraction. She clearly wasn't expecting that.
 
"Excuse me?"
 
"Do you like hurting people?" Loki repeated. "Is that what all this is about?" He waved his hands around, gesturing to "this."
 
Lady Loki glared at him, and took a step back without responding. She turned around, preparing to storm out- which seemed to be a trend with her that Loki couldn't say he enjoyed- but when Loki continued to speak, she froze.
 
"So far, you've yet to tell me anything about your past, your powers, your magic, or your motives. I see no reason for you to cause all this destruction."
 
"No, I suppose you don't," Lady Loki sneered over her shoulder.
 
Loki ignored her and continued to press on.
 
"So what's the end goal? Why are you doing all this? Is there something I don't know about, or…" Loki shrugged casually, faking indifference. "Do you just enjoy hurting others?"
 
"I don't!" Lady Loki exploded, and Loki repressed the urge to grin. This was a good start.
 
"Ok, explain that to me."
 
Everything about this situation felt reminiscent of Mobius. Loki wondered faintly how his counterpart would feel if she knew the mind games he was playing with her originated from the TVA.
 
"I-" Lady Loki faltered. 
 
When she faced him, she looked upset. And not fake upset like she had when she was lying about her backstory. No, this kind of upset wasn't something she could falsify by putting up a facade. Loki knew the difference. 
 
"I don't like hurting people," she said quietly. "They like hurting me. And it's just- it's so easy to take that hurt and project it onto others." She took a deep, shaky breath. "Sometimes it's hard to hold myself back."
 
Loki nodded sympathetically. His chest tightened in understanding that he wished he didn't feel, but the longer he was in this Loki's presence, he realised how similar they truly were. And that scared him. 
 
"Loki-" he began, but she cut him off.
 
"Don't call me that."
 
Loki frowned.
 
"What?"
 
"I said, don't call me that."
 
"But why?"
 
Lady Loki, or the Variant, or whatever her name was shook her head, too tired to argue.
 
"I've spent a long time associating the name Loki with a villain, and that's not who I want to be," she said. 
 
In another world, maybe Loki would've taken that as an insult to his character, but he could tell she meant no harm with her words. Besides, it wasn't like she was wrong. He was a villain.
 
"Call me Sylvie instead."
 
"Sylvie." Loki tested the word on his tongue. It suited her, he thought. "Ok then, Sylvie , we're a team now. Albeit, a team missing elements of trust and teamwork, but that will come with time. For now, we just need to work on our mutual goal- bringing down the TVA- but this time, we'll have each other to hold ourselves back."
 
Loki gave Sylvie a small, genuine smile, which she hesitantly returned.
 
"If either of us loses control, we'll be there to stop anything from spiralling out of hand, okay?" 
 
"Okay."
 
Loki clapped his hands together.
 
"Delightful!"
 
He was about to open his mouth and ask about the plan, but Sylvie got there first.
 
"I just have one question for you, since I so kindly answered yours," she said.
 
Loki nodded curiously, motioning for her to go on.
 
"Why did you save them? The agent and the hunter?" she asked, and Loki bit his tongue. 
 
Shit . Of course, they had to circle back to this.
 
"You could have just let them die and pinned all the blame on me, then walked away with a clean conscience. So why didn't you?"
 
Loki stood there silently for a moment. Sylvie's eyes searched his for some kind of instinctive response, but there was none. Just confusion and doubt that Loki had been trying to untangle since leaving Mobius in that cave. How could he answer her question as to why he did what he did, when he wasn't even sure himself?
 
Instead, Loki did what he did best, and lied.
 
"It was a precautionary measure," he told her, waving his hands dismissively. "I spent a lot of time building up the TVA's trust in me, and with our unstable truce, I didn't think it would be wise to throw that out."
 
Sylvie raised an eyebrow, and for a worrying minute, Loki wasn't sure she believed his excuse. Then, she shrugged.
 
"Fair enough. I suppose I haven't really filled you in on my plans yet, have I?"
 
Loki's heart soared at that. For the present moment, he was off the hook. He could shove aside those thoughts of Mobius for later and focus on something much more interesting: scheming.
 
"No you haven't," he grumbled. "Quite annoying, actually."
 
Sylvie shoved him playfully, and Loki's eyes widened, surprised. Their fragile friendship was progressing much faster than he had expected- not that he was complaining, of course.
 
"My apologies," she teased. "How about this, I'll show you a magic trick for all your suffering. Deal?"
 
Loki's lips curled into a round "O" in both bewilderment and indignation.
 
"Magic tricks? What do you take me for, some kind of children's magician?" He asked, offended.
 
Sylvie threw her hands down in exasperation.
 
"I'm trying to make an effort here!"
 
Loki held up his hands placatingly, reminding himself that he needed to retain this peace.
 
"Okay, okay, you're right." He gave her a pointed look. "Happy now?"
 
"Hardly."
 
"But you'll still show me the trick?"
 
Sylvie scowled, then relented.
 
"Fine," she said, and when Loki's face lit up with delight, she added, "But only because it will be useful in the mission."
 
"Of course."
 
Rolling her eyes, Sylvie moved to sit down at a table, and Loki joined her. 
 
"You've seen how I enchant people, right?" she asked. Loki nodded, and Sylvie held up one hand.
 
"It requires two things: physical contact," She placed her hand over his. "And a strong mental connection."
 
"Alright, seems easy enough," Loki said, shrugging. "What's next?"
 
"To maintain the connection between two minds, you need to reach into their memories, drawing out the ones most necessary for control," Sylvie explained.
 
"And how do you know which those are?"
 
"They'll be the more personal ones. The harder it is to get to them, the more effective they'll be."
 
Sylvie pulled her hand away and smiled.
 
"Like for example, do you remember TVA hunter I enchanted?"
 
Loki nodded.
 
"Her mind was a clouded mess. I had to dig deep and retrieve a memory from before the TVA in order to get any information out of her."
 
A sense of dread washed over Loki.
 
"Before the TVA? But that's not possible," he said. "All TVA agents were created by the Time Keepers to enforce the proper flow of time. That's what they said, anyway."
 
Sylvie scoffed.
 
"What a load of shit," she huffed. "The TVA agents aren't some God-given saviours. They're Variants, just like us."
 
Realisation dawned on Loki. Everything made sense now; the blind faith and dedication everyone had in the Time Keepers, the order of the TVA, why Casey didn't even know what a fish was.
 
"They don't know that," he told her.
 
Sylvie shrugged.
 
"I know," she said simply. "It's why I don't feel remorse for meddling with their minds. I'm giving them the answers about their past that they don't even know they crave."
 
When Loki didn't respond, Sylvie waved her hand to brush the topic aside.
 
"Anyway, back to the lesson. If you remember physical contact and mental connection, that's really all there is to it."
 
Loki let his mind push away this new discovery about the TVA and instead fizzle with excitement as he flexed his fingers. Though he would never admit it, he was a little jealous of Sylvie's enchantment powers. It was something he had never even realised himself being capable of doing until it was used against him, and that made him all the more eager to wield such power. And now thanks to his new ally, (friend? acquaintance? Loki wasn't sure) he could try it out.
 
"You're sure?" He asked as a precaution.
 
Sylvie nodded.
 
"You'll just need practice. Which thankfully, you're going to get soon."
 
When Loki looked lost, Sylvie flashed him a sly smirk. Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
 
"Let me fill you in on my master plan."