A Guide to Fixing Broken Things

Step Fourteen: Connection

Loki POV

Mobius went as still as a statue. His eyes glossed over, lost in thought, and his face twisted into an expression that was entirely unreadable.

"No." Mobius spoke so quietly that had Loki not been hanging onto his every word, he never would have heard him. "That's not true."

Loki shook his head.

"The TVA has been lying to you!" he explained, voice rising as he did. "The Time Keepers didn't create you, they kidnapped you from your timeline and brainwashed you into serving them. You're all Variants!"

Mobius still said nothing.

"Mobius, please. You've got to believe me."

Loki was aware that he was begging- aware that was something any other version of himself would mock- but he didn't care. He had to try, not only for his sake to get off this planet, but because Mobius was a good person. He needed to know.

"Stop this, Loki," Mobius finally said, and Loki felt something inside him break.

Of course, Mobius didn't trust him. He was the God of Mischief, after all, and history's most reliable liar. He was foolish to think anyone would see him as anything else. Still, he pressed on one last time.

"I'm not-"

"I'm meant to kill you, you know."

The statement was so unexpected and jarring that it caused all the protests Loki had been thinking up in his head to die on the tip of his tongue. His heart momentarily stopped working for a beat, his body went completely rigid, and he suddenly became very aware of the blade that Mobius still held between them. He took a step backward.

"What?"

As if Loki had broken open the dam holding Mobius back, he let the words spill out of him.

"After RoxxCart, the TVA was in chaos. I had placed faith on you- put my job on the line for you - and then you were gone and the Sacred Timeline was bombed." He sucked in a quick breath. "I was on the verge of being fired, so I-"

"Agreed to kill me." Loki's voice sounded hollow, even to himself.

Mobius nodded somberly and flipped over the dagger in his shaking hands.

"Well," Loki said, failing to keep his voice steady. "what are you waiting for then?"

Mobius sighed as held up the dagger, the tip of the blade pointed in Loki's direction.

"Please don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

To his credit, Mobius truly did look upset. He had always been a strange sort of anomaly in regards to emotion. When Loki first met him, he managed to come across both as sincere and open, yet entirely unreadable. Loki couldn't piece together why he did what he did or what his next steps were, and that was unnerving to someone like him, who prided themselves in their ability to understand the desires of men.

But now, Mobius displayed his feelings of deep pain and regret clearly on his face, and Loki almost wished he went back to being cold, or at least angry. Maybe then, what was about to happen wouldn't hurt so much.

"Why should I?" Loki took another step backward as Mobius moved towards him. "I tried to tell you the truth, but you wouldn't listen."

"No more games," Mobius murmured to himself, as if he didn't hear Loki.

"This isn't a game!" Loki insisted. "If what Sylvie said is true-"

Mobius stopped walking. His eyes snapped up to meet Loki's.