Lokius (Loki/Mobius) AU - What if Mobius, while looking for the Loki he knows from his timeline, encounters a different variant of himself...? A hunter Mobius.
(Plot twist: Hunter Mobius is in love with Loki... but not the Loki we are familiar with).
PART II can be found here!
Fic #1
“You.”
Mobius looked up at the one who kicked him squarely in the chest and had him promptly (and rather unceremoniously) falling on the floor in a heap. He hadn’t been able to get a chance to get a good look at his assailant, but he recognized that voice as clear as day. It was his voice.
Slowly he looked up to meet his other self’s gaze and found stern eyes gazing back at him. Mobius felt a chill pass through him as he got a better view of this variant that stood before him.
The variant Mobius that looked down at him had the same facial features and hairstyle as him, but the one prominent difference was the clothes he wore. Or rather, the gear he adorned. It was standard armor gear, worn by a Hunter. The black leather straps fit tightly around the variant’s body and Mobius guessed under that armor, this variant was fitter than he was. He couldn’t help but stare a little, before finding his bearings, a small smile pulling on the edge of his lips. The irony of it all was all too funny.
Hunter Mobius glared down at him and he unsheathed his pruning stick from his belt, the orange, heated glow of the burning device making a small humming noise as it came back to life.
“Are you the one who made the timelines branch out?”
Mobius’s eyebrows quirked at that. Him? Really?
“No, it’s not me. I’m looking for someone.”
Hunter Mobius’s lips pursed together, his eyes colored with anger. Mobius knew that fire, although he seldom acted upon it unless absolutely necessary, considering he was physically inept at causing any real damage. He’d felt it when he thought Loki had betrayed him, when the person he thought he could start to rely on had opted to leave him. And yet... he’d been the fool who failed to recognize the TVA’s machinations. Which made him wonder... was this Mobius the same? Stuck in his own loop, lied to by the TVA and made to work under their bidding? From the looks of it, Mobius guessed this variant of his was clearly still unaware of the deception the timeless organization had concocted to keep these variants, plucked fresh and oblivious until they were wiped clean of their original memories and made to believe in a lie. How much lost time had he dedicated to this fruitless cause?
And here he was again, another version of himself... Locked in a forever timeloop where Mobius is serving another TVA.
“You’re coming with me, variant. You’re going to tell us everything you know about what’s happening to these timelines.”
There was frustration in Hunter Mobius’s voice, that Mobius picked up through his gritted teeth. He could hear the fear, veiled underneath all his words. The confusion as well was another tone he caught and Mobius felt a stab of empathy for this variant in front of him. He must be just as confused as I am to find all of reality breaking apart...
“I... I get it, You’re scared. I am too.”
Hunter Mobius flinches as if he was slapped, and Mobius felt his heart beat a little faster at the way this variant looked at him with a spark of fury in his eyes. “Hunters don’t have time to be scared. That’s a weakness.”
No, that’s only human, Mobius thought, feeling pity bubble up within him. What happened that made you become what you are?
“I’ll tell you everything I know. I’ll come with you willingly.”
Hunter Mobius growls, literally growls, as he grabbed Mobius and hoisted him easily to his feet. The iron hold on his arm tugged at him roughly as a time door appeared out of thin air, the familiar yellow glow cascading a veil of orange hues on the floor.
“But in exchange, you got to tell me how to find someone.”
“I don’t need to tell you anything, variant,” Hunter Mobius said, his grey eyebrows furrowing. “On the authority of the Time Keepers, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the sacred-”
“I know that speech by heart, so you don’t need to repeat it to me,” Mobius interrupted, and he almost couldn’t stop himself from smiling cause somehow, all of this, felt like a pantomime.
“If you can’t give us answers, I’ll prune you myself,” Hunter Mobius shot back and pulled at Mobius’s arm. Their bodies were almost through the time door.
“Have you seen Loki? I’m looking for Loki.”
Hunter Mobius’s feet stopped, and he looked back at Mobius with a deep frown. “What did you say?”
“You might have seen him - Tall, dark hair, arrogant demi-god and ridiculously nimble one who speaks in a British accent?”
Hunter Mobius looked at Mobius with narrowing eyes.
“Loki?”
“Yeah, Loki? Have you seen him?” Mobius spoke, and he could hear the urgency in his voice, as well as the hope that he felt as soon as he saw Hunter Mobius’s eyes flicker with recognition. Maybe he knows where Loki, the Loki I know, is...!
“My partner isn’t here.”
Mobius thought he felt his heart stop for a moment. “Partner? What do you mean... partner?”
“Hunter L1145. He’s not here.”
All the air in his lungs felt as if it was sucked out of him as Mobius felt his chest constrict in ways that he didn’t know he could feel. Hunter? Is Loki... No, it can’t be... If he’s a Hunter, that means his memory... it’s gone.
It’s not you’re Loki, Mobius said to himself, trying to make himself breath, he’s not a hunter. Your Loki wasn’t recruited by TVA and had his memory wiped. He’s fine. He has to be.
“How did you...” Hunter Mobius stopped for a moment, and Mobius looked into his eyes and saw doubt. He saw it; under that hard exterior this variant was desperate not to break it and show any weakness that others could exploit.
“Why are you looking for him? What do you want from him?” Hunter Mobius’s voice rose, and his shoulders broadened a fraction in a defensive stance. Mobius pushed down the fear that sizzled up to the surface.
“The timelines want to break free. I think whatever is happening here is caused by Loki. I mean, my Loki.”
“Your... Loki?”
“Yes, the Loki I know!”
Hunter Mobius stood near the waning time door that quickly snapped out of existence as soon as it appeared and Mobius was surprised to find that the strong hold on his arm let go of him abruptly. Mobius staggered, barely finding his footing.
“Your Loki,” Hunter Mobius repeated, his gaze intent on Mobius.
“Yes, I did say that earlier, didn’t I? Now please, can you help me find him?”
“What happened to him?”
“Last time we saw each other, we were in the Void and promised each other we’ll see one another again after... after we finished what we needed to do, I was going to see him back in the TVA. He was supposed to come back to me... Until the chaos... Until the timelines started to branch out.” Mobius answered. “It was unstoppable.”
Sudden unease weighed on Mobius, as well as confusion. Why did he let me go? Wasn’t he trying to bring me to his TVA? He was about to have me stand trial, but he decided not to. As soon as I said... oh.
The light of the pruning stick went out with a fizzle as Hunter Mobius clicked the off button. Mobius watched the hunter variant of himself lower the weapon and hook it back on his belt. And when Mobius looked up to meet the other man’s eyes, he saw himself in them this time. Not a stern man hardened by years (perhaps a millennia) of working as a hunter and pruning variants. This person that stood in front of him was not just some emotionless machine. This Mobius that wore the clothes of a hunter actually looked back at him with genuine confusion and... was it yearning?
“Tell me... tell me how you...” Hunter Mobius’s voice faltered.
“What do you want to know?” Mobius spoke, although he guessed what his other self was about to say next.
“How were you given permission to love him?”
Oh... okay... not quite what I imagined, Mobius thought, eyebrows quirking up as he took in Hunter Mobius’s words. “I didn’t need permission.”
“How?” Hunter Mobius’s voice echoed and something in the way he said that one simple word reverberated within Mobius in a way that made his heart wrench apart. He heard the aching sadness in the variant’s voice.
His voice.
“We’re not hunters. I’m a TVA analyst in my reality, and Loki... well, Loki’s a variant, but he’s so much more than that. That’s why I need to find him. He’s the only person who can figure out what’s happening with the timelines.”
Hunter Mobius looked at Mobius in disbelief, but once the information sank in he nodded once in acknowledgement. “You rebelled, then? Against your own people... For him?”
Mobius narrowed his eyes, “I... you can say that. It was unintentional, but it had to happen. Because the TVA has been lying to us. To you. But that’s not even the worst of it. So let me tell you my story, Mobius. Let me share it with you, and maybe you can love your Loki without any permission or authority to prevent you otherwise.”
