a/n: another 3am-er (these all seem to leap forth into existence in the middle of the night - I wonder why my muse hates me<3), but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless. i'm soo excited for the next few chapters, episode five was my favourite and i have a lot of ideas for it! happy reading<3

...

Loki drops the dagger and seizes your forearm instead, and together you lurch towards the orange doorway. Sylvie is already through it by the time you're halfway there, and you think you feel the rush of pressure caused by the impact of the planet hitting the surface of the moon pushing you through the door.

You stumble through, almost losing your balance before righting yourself on the other side. Several chunks of moon and a large amount of dust follows you through the doorway, but then it closes over, and you're back in the TVA.

It's suddenly very quiet; the apocalypse had been loud. Loki releases your arm, and you look up to find yourself surrounded by at least thirty minutemen, and Renslayer. She regards the three of you coldly as minutemen move forward to strap those infernal collars back around your necks, and then grab you, two guards per variant, and escort you down a corridor.

Loki and Sylvie attempt to resist their guards; you stay compliant. Where is there to go? And you don't have your magic anymore. Sylvie is suddenly led a different way to you and Loki, and when you turn to look at her you see her rage replaced with fear. You hadn't noticed before now that you care about what might happen to her.

You turn another corner, and there stands Mobius. His face is unreadable.

'Well?' he asks Loki, walking alongside him as you continue down the corridor.

'Well what?' Loki spits.

'I know you've got some quip you're dyin' to say,' Mobius tells him.

'I don't have a quip. I've got nothing to say,' Loki scowls.

'Good. Put him in there; leave her with me,' Mobius says, pointing first at Loki, then at you. Loki shoots you a look which almost seems like worry.

'Oh look, isn't that sweet,' Mobius comments, his face still unreadable. Loki is dragged through a door into a time theatre and out of your sight, while you are released by the two minutemen who had been holding your arms and left to follow Mobius.

'Don't you think I'm a threat?' you ask him, following him into yet another time theatre.

'Do you have a weapon on you?' he asks, as the doors close unprompted behind you.

'No.'

'Well then,' he says, sitting down in the same chair as he had last time and gesturing for you to sit opposite him. You do.

'So,' he muses, looking at you thoughtfully. You just look back at him.

'You wanna tell me what that Nexus Event was back there on Lamentis?' he asks you. You haven't even had time to think about what might have caused it. Your ears are still ringing from the sound of the planet making contact with the moon's surface.

You open your mouth, and then close it again. What will he do after you've told him what happened? You're still not entirely convinced that he's not seconds away from simply pruning you and being done with it.

Mobius sighs.

'Look, you can talk to me,' he says, and the look on his face suggests that you can indeed trust him. So you tell him what happened, everything from falling into the tent, to watching the Ark be destroyed, to asking Loki to kill you.

'Has a Loki variant ever killed a Y/N variant?' you ask, genuinely curious.

'No. Not that I can recall,' Mobius tells you. You feel nothing except vague interest at the fact. He's squinting at you.

'What?'

'Do you really hold such little value for your life?'

'Well, now that I'm back here I'd rather stay alive so that I can try and get back to my Loki variant. But I thought that we were all going to die back there,' you tell him.

'Huh,' he says simply, still watching you.

'Oh, also, Sylvie said that all you TVA workers are actually former Midgardians and the TVA stole your memories to make you work here. You're all variants,' you tell him. It's only right that he should know.

Mobius stares at you for a few seconds, and then laughs, shaking his head.

'You've been through quite an ordeal, on top of everything else. I'm gonna send you somewhere to relax for a little bit while I go interrogate your friend over there,' he says, standing up and jerking a finger over his shoulder towards where the other guards had taken Loki.

You don't argue, standing up too and watching as Mobius fiddles with his TemPad, making a familiar looking doorway appear. This one is yellow.

'Go ahead, I'll be back for you in a bit,' he tells you when you look apprehensive. So you walk forward, sticking your hand through the doorway first tentatively. Nothing happens, the air just feels cool on the other side.

You walk through, closing your eyes. And when you open them you almost fall to your knees, because you're on Asgard. Your home, which doesn't exist anymore. Reduced to cosmic waste by Surtur.

But you're there, and you're feeling again all of a sudden. You wish you wouldn't, it hurts like hell. Stumbling forward, you grasp the smooth stone wall which makes up the bottom part of an archway leading out to open air and looks out over all of Asgard. The sight of it makes your heart ache painfully.

You're in the palace, and you want to walk around, but when you try and venture further than about fifty feet you end up right back where you started. You don't let it bother you, hoisting yourself up on to the ledge which joins the bottom of two archways and leaning back against the cold stone wall.

You lose track of time, sat looking out over your home. The Bifrost sits shimmering in the near distance, stretching out across the water glittering in the sun, all the way down to the Observatory; barely a speck on the horizon from where you're sat.

Warriors train in the courtyard below you, but you're too high up to recognise any of them. Further on, the streets hum with activity: bustling markets, children running and yelling as they play, horses bearing messengers weaving their way through the narrow streets.

To either side of the palace tall, herbaceous mountains stretch towards the sky, obscuring your view to your left and right. It's okay though, because you only want to look forward.

It's a while before you realise that your cheeks are wet with tears. When Mobius comes back, you'll never get to see this again, so you concentrate hard on committing every single tiny little detail to memory. It seems ludicrous that you were only here in your timeline mere days ago. Surely several lifetimes have passed since then?

Eventually there comes a noise from behind you, and you turn to find Mobius and Loki stood behind you. Loki is feigning disinterest, but you can see that he's shocked but pleased to find himself back home.

'You okay?' you ask him, swinging your legs around and dropping to the ground, only then realising how stiff your joints had become from sitting still against stone for so long. Loki nods mutely, looking at the view.

'Now Loki, do you swear to me that Sylvie didn't implant those memories in Hunter C-20?' Mobius asks him seriously. You feel as though you have a lot of catching up to do.

'No. I believe her,' Loki says, turning his gaze to Mobius. He looks genuine, which is quite unsettling.

'So I just have to trust the word of two Lokis?' Mobius sighs.

'How about the word of a friend?' Loki asks. Mobius looks at him gratefully, then turns to you.

'Are you in on this?'

'What is it that we're trying to achieve here?' you frown.

'Finding out the truth,' Mobius says, as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

'I don't suppose you can just give me some Infinity Stones and send me back to my timeline right now, can you?' you ask him. Mobius stares at you.

'Is that your plan?'

'Yes. Can you offer me a better one?'

Mobius shakes his head slowly. 'I can't do that... and neither can you,' he says.

'Then I guess I'm in on your plan,' you shrug, turning back to look at Asgard. You almost hear Loki and Mobius looking at each other behind your back, communicating silently.

'Hey,' Mobius says, and then he's stood next to you.

'I think the Nexus Event was caused by you giving up. Losing hope. Y/N variants don't give up, and they don't lose hope. Just like Loki variants, because there's more of you out there, thousands of you. You're not on your own, and it's important that you see that.'

You stare down at your shoes, and there are sensations in your chest. You'd thought that the emotion you had felt looking out over Asgard would leave the second you turned away, but it's still there. And there's more, being brought into existence through Mobius' words.

'Thank you,' you whisper.

'I'm just telling you the truth.'

'No. Thank you for letting me see my home one last time,' you say, looking up at him earnestly. He looks back at you, and then smiles.

'You're welcome.'

Then he turns back to Loki, exhaling sharply.

'We need to move fast,' Mobius says. 'Come on.'

You take a deep breath and drag your gaze away from the view. You need to look forward, not back.

The minute you step back through the yellow doorway to the TVA, you freeze in your tracks. Renslayer stands before you, behind four minutemen, who are armed.

'I think you have something of mine,' she says coldly, glaring at Mobius as the doorway closes behind you.

'Yeah, I got all the way down here before I even realised I picked up yours,' Mobius says, not missing a beat as he reaches into his jacket pocket. You don't know what's going on, but you know he's good. But you can see that Renslayer is better.

Mobius hands a TemPad to one of the minutemen and steps back. Loki has a look of resignation on his face.

'What's going on?' Mobius asks pleasantly, watching Renslayer. She says nothing.

'What's the problem, Ravonna?' he asks again, this time with a slight waver in his voice. You've not once heard his voice waver yet, and you know the game is up.

'You know where I'd go if I could go anywhere? Wherever it is I'm really from.' Mobius tells her suddenly. Loki closes his eyes briefly.

'Yeah, wherever I had a life before the TVA came along. Maybe I had a jet ski. That's what I'd like to do. Just riding around on my jet ski.'

'Prune him.' Renslayer commands.

It happens so fast you're not sure you believe your own eyes when it does. The minuteman closest to Mobius lunges forward and jabs him with the ignited end of his baton, and Mobius doubles over, suddenly outlined in a bright orange light. The outline fizzes quietly as it engulfs him, growing smaller and smaller. And then he's just... gone.

Loki's face is scarily still, almost as though it's suddenly turned to stone. There's nothing behind his eyes.

The minutemen move forward and grab you and Loki, shoving you towards the doors to the time theatre.

'Wait for me at the elevator,' Renslayer commands, standing very still.

You and Loki are taken to an elevator, and then the minutemen turn and stand silently, watching you, weapons clutched to their chests. Loki's face is still blank; you almost don't dare look at him fully in the face.

You stand in silence, contemplating what lies in store for you wherever this elevator is going to take you.

Did Mobius have a plan?

Loki doesn't reply.

Loki.

Be quiet.

We need to work together if we want to stand any chance of getting out of here.

I thought you didn't care about any of this.

I care that Mobius was just killed in front of me.

Loki closes his eyes, his nostrils flaring.

He didn't tell me what his plan was. He didn't get a chance.

Renslayer returns, Sylvie in tow. She's soaked to the skin.

What happened?

Are you okay?

You and her think at the same time, and all three of you wince. Renslayer frowns, but then steps forward past you and the minutemen.

'I've got them from here,' she says, walking into the elevator. You, Loki and Sylvie follow her in, and the doors slide shut ominously slowly.

The silence that ensues inside the elevator is almost as loud as the apocalypse had been. Sylvie breaks it.

'Do you remember me?'

Renslayer lets the question hang before she answers it.

'I do.'

Sylvie is quiet.

'What do you want to say to me, variant?' Renslayer asks coldly.

'What was my Nexus Event? Why did you bring me in?'

Renslayer scoffs cruelly. 'Why does it matter?'

'It was enough to take my life from me, lead me to all this. Must have been important.' Sylvie says, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.

'So, what was it?'

You anticipate Renslayer's answer before the words leave her mouth, and silently pray that she doesn't say it. A horrible smile curls its way on to her face before she speaks.

'I don't remember.'

Sylvie's hurt at her words hits you right in the chest, and it's all you can do not to double over in pain. When it passes, you seriously think about attacking Renslayer, and can hear Loki thinking the same. It's comforting to know that there's something going on behind his vacant eyes.

The elevator stops moving and the doors slide open, green light fills the space and you walk out into a large stone chamber. Before you, three large alien type creatures sit on elevated seats, looking down on you. You guess who they are even before Renslayer speaks their names.

'Gracious Time Keepers. As promised: the variants.'

The Time Keeper who sits in the middle, raised just slightly higher than the two sat either side of it, opens its mouth and speaks.

'After all your struggle, at last, you've arrived before us. What do you have to say for yourselves before you meet your end, variants?'

'Is that the only reason you brought us here? To kill us? I've lost track of the number of times I've been killed, so go ahead. Do your worst.' Loki shouts up at it.

'You and your bravado are no threat to us, variant,' the Time Keeper says calmly. Sylvie is practically vibrating with rage, stood coiled like a spring at your side.

'Oh, no. I don't think you believe that,' she says, taking a step forward. Her form glitches, and then she's stood back next to you. She doesn't even bat an eyelid, but you look back at Renslayer, who looks nervous, but adjusts her features as you turn.

'I think you're scared,' Sylvie finishes.

'No, variant. You're nothing but a cosmic disappointment,' the Time Keeper tells her, and for some reason that makes a smile spread wide across your face.

'Delete them!' another Time Keeper demands, and you turn around to see Renslayer take a step towards you... and glitch. The elevator doors slide open and Hunter B-15 appears, throwing Sylvie a short sword as she steps into the room. The collars drop from around your necks even as you turn back to the Time Keepers. They look strangely calm.

You don't question B-15's abrupt change in loyalties, focusing on the minuteman that is charging towards you instead. Loki is locked in combat next to you, both of you narrowly avoiding being pruned every other second.

After a violent tussle with your minuteman you manage to swipe his legs out from underneath him and snatch his baton from him, pruning him instantly.

Right as you watch his face disappear, your feel something jab you in the small of the back, and that area of your body goes very hot and then very cold.

Time slows down. You look up at Loki, who meets your gaze, and then you watch his mouth say your name, but hear nothing. His eyes are animated now – there's fear in them. You're overcome with the strangest sensation, almost like you're being slowly lowered into a warm bath.

And then everything turns black.