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The breath was knocked out of Mobius as he hit the ground, the pruning stick flew across the room and out of reach. He looked up at Ravonna who wore a determined expression. Their conversation played on a loop in his head.
You betrayed me.
Eons of friendship, and you threw it all away on a couple of Lokis.
You’re of no danger to me.
“Yep,” he wheezed, sitting up stiffly. “You’re right.”
Their eyes met. Mobius saw a rare display of pity on the judge’s face, and she was surprised to see defeat written across his.
Mobius looked away first and sighed deeply. He wished for so many things, to see Loki again, to destroy the TVA, and maybe even learn about his previous life. Now he’d never get the chance. He knew sShe couldn’t let him live, not after everything he’d said.
His shoulders slumped, “Go ahead.”
Ravonna held the pruning stick out in front of her defensively. “You know I don’t want to do this.”
“Like that makes it any better.”
Mobius wasn’t overly concerned with being pruned. With any luck, he figured he’d just have to survive in the Void until someone rescued him.
However, the hope growing in his chest shuddered when Ravonna suddenly adjusted something on the stick.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“Now that I know you can escape from the Void, I can’t very well send you back there,” Ravonna explained. “I’m sorry, Mobius. It’s been set to execute.”
Mobius froze. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. This is very not good.
“Ravonna-”
“Save it, Mobius. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” She began advancing on him, the pruning stick’s light illuminating her face with a reddish glow.
“Wait!” He tried to scramble back, “Wait, Ravonna, please. I-”
Ravonna had to shut her eyes as her oldest friend collapsed back to the floor, dead. The dull thud sent a chill down her spine. She told herself that killing Mobius was a necessary evil, but even as she stepped through the timedoor to escape, she knew it would haunt her forever.
_______________________________
Because you can’t trust,
and I can’t be trusted.
It hurt Loki to say it, but he knew it in his heart to be true. After all, that’s what made his bond with Mobius so special. Against all logic, Mobius trusted him. Even after he’d betrayed him at Roxxcart and abandoned him in an apocalypse.
Gods, Mobius. Loki hated the idea of the human rushing back to the TVA without him. It was futile wanting to protect him, especially since Mobius had been pruned two feet away from him last time. Still, he couldn’t help but worry for the man.
Loki had to quickly shake the thought away when Sylvie swung at his head again.
“Sylvie, please.” He let his dagger clatter to the ground as Sylvie held hers to his throat. “I don’t want the throne,” he begged, wishing she’d understand. “I… I just want you to be okay.”
She wavered for a moment and stepped closer. Loki let out a breath of relief, perhaps he’d finally gotten through to her.
She shook her head sadly. “But I’m not you,” she said, eyes shining. Before Loki could reply, Sylvie opened a timedoor and pushed him through it.
Loki found himself in a time theater back at the TVA. He heard a crash outside and rushed out to look.
It was chaos. People were running back and forth, talking and pushing and giving orders. Loki’s shoulders sagged. She did it, he realized. She killed Kang. However, any guilt he felt over that was quickly replaced with worry when he didn’t see Mobius among the worried agents.
He spotted B-15, who looked significantly more distressed than everyone else, heading down a corridor to his left. Loki rushed after her. “B-15! Wait!”
She glanced over her shoulder and Loki suppressed a wave of panic at the tears forming in her eyes. When he caught up to her, he asked, “What’s happening? Where’s Mobius?”
“I don’t know,” she bit her lip. “He went after Judge Renslayer a while ago and no one has seen him since…”
Loki’s stomach dropped and the blood rushed to his ears. “He’s fine,” he said, more to reassure himself than anything. “He has to be. He’s Mobius, he always survives.”
“We need to search her office, maybe he’s still there.”
Loki nodded and tried to calm the waves of panic crashing over him. “Worst comes to worst, she just pruned him, right? And then we can just rescue him from the Void. Now that Alioth is gone, it’ll be easy.”
B-15 blinked at him, “Who?”
“Nevermind,” Loki waved his hand and increased his pace. “Point is, Mobius is alive, so we can rescue him.”
“You really should have paid more attention to the training videos,” she looked ahead, not meeting his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“The pruning sticks,” she explained sadly. “They have lots of settings. They can be set to prune, or stun, or… execute.”
“What?” Loki’s voice was barely more than a whisper.
“We rarely use it. Most hunters don’t even know they have it.”
Loki couldn’t breathe. Optimism was becoming harder and harder to find. “How,” he swallowed thickly. “How does it work?”
She ignored him. “We’re almost there.”
“How does it work?” Loki pressed. He had to know.
B-15 was quiet for a moment, steeling herself. “It sends a shock through the victim’s body that shuts down their organs. The victim is rendered unconscious almost instantly, so they don’t feel any of it.” She said the last part almost as if it was supposed to be a comfort.
But I don’t need to be comforted, Loki thought angrily. Because Mobius is fine.
Still, the thought of Mobius’ death loomed over him, darker than ever. All he could think about was when Mobius had been pruned and the aching hole in his chest that gnawed at him until their reunion. He couldn’t let that happen again.
“We need to find him.” Loki said, and took off running, B-15 close behind him.
The door to Ravonna’s office was open, and the room was eerily silent. They snuck in quietly, anticipating an attack, but none came.
Loki saw him first, a choked cry escaped his lips and he fell to his knees in the doorway. The dark shoes, the rumpled suit, the silvery hair, that adorable crooked nose… it was Mobius.
The god was vaguely aware of B-15’s sharp gasp behind him.
He stumbled forward, desperate to reach Mobius. The agent’s face was expressionless and cold, nothing like the animated man Loki had held just hours ago.
Loki pulled Mobius’ limp form into his arms and searched for a heartbeat or a pulse, anything that meant he was still alive… but found nothing. His chest felt hollowed out, like someone had removed his heart and crushed it into nothing. Sobs racked his body and he hunched over, unable to hold himself up as the grief weighed heavy on his shoulders.
B-15 approached him slowly, as if nearing a wounded animal. Upon seeing the broken god, a look of horror spread across her face. “Oh, Loki…”
Loki looked up at her, face twisted in pain and horror. “You have to save him… he-he’s all I have. I can’t- I can’t lose him, please!”
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Loki, I can’t bring him back. He’s gone, I’m so sorry.”
Loki shook his head and turned back to the man cradled in his arms. Loki pressed their foreheads together, “I failed you,” he whispered. “I failed you and I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” He kissed Mobius’ forehead lightly, “Come back, please come back.”
The hunter backed up to give him some privacy. After a few minutes, she asked softly, “Where’s Sylvie?”
Loki’s sobs subsided enough for him to say, “She… she betrayed me. And I thought I still had Mobius but…” he couldn’t stop shaking. “Now I’m alone.”
“You’re not alone,” B-15 insisted. “And this isn’t your fault, any of it.” Loki looked away, so she added, “He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.”
“I-I don’t know what to do.”
She’d never heard the god sound so small and lost. He was breaking apart without Mobius.
“What would Mobius do?” She squeezed his shoulder. “He’d say we just need to come up with a game plan to save the universe. So that’s what we’re gonna do.”
It was chilling how quickly Loki’s emotions changed as his face hardened and his grip tightened. “I know where we need to start.” He lifted Mobius in his arms and stood, cradling him to his chest. “I’m going to find Ravonna… and I’m going to kill her.”
B-15 took an unconscious step back at the fury burning in the god’s eyes like a kaleidoscope of torment. It was terrifying. “Loki-”
“She’s going to pay for what she did. She’s going to suffer.” Loki tilted his chin down menacingly and stared at the hunter. “I’m going to tear her apart over and over again until she begs,” he snarled. “I’ll find what she loves and destroy it. I’ll make her share my pain a hundred times over!”
Loki stormed past the hunter. “Mark my words, she’ll wish she never existed when I’m done with her.” Then he was gone.
B-15 collapsed in a nearby chair as soon as he was out of sight and let out a shaky breath. Mobius was perhaps the only person who could have stopped this, but now he’s gone, and Loki was becoming the monster he always swore he’d never be.