I fell on a hard, solid floor, my back ached by the impact. I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. We were on another location now, somewhere very far from the TVA. It was dark, very dark and smelled like a mixture of the sea and mold

A hand tried to take my timepad. I held it tight and kicked whoever was there, I just heard a huge noise of some wood pieces falling on the floor. I got up, Sylvie was there, she had fallen in a pile of lots of woodden boxes. We were in some sort of narrowed deposit.

-Did you just try to trick me again?!-I spoke irritated.

-Yes! Because an idiot broke my timepad!-She got up and growled.

-I already said that we are sticking together! Now shut the fuck up!-I was done, I wasn't going to waste my time trying to explain everything again.

I sighed and looked around us, the dark cabin full of shelves with cans, heavy boxes on the floor and spider webs on corners.

-Let's get out of this place then-Sylvie said opening a metal door in front of us.

-Wait what? Sylvie!-

The light that came through the door when she opened it almost blinded me.

I followed her and gasped by the vision of the environment we were established in. There was so much to see, so much to describe, I've never seen anything like that before.

An orchestra played on the background, a huge, and when a say huge it's VERY huge, saloon standed in front of us. Expensive crystal chandeliers (yes, in pural, there were many) hanged from the golden ceiling, luxurious vintage mobils decorated the location, along with huge stairs to other floors.

People were well dressed, women in long, fancy dresses, walking in such a grace that they looked like figures from a painting. Gentlemen had suits on, with serious to charming aspects, in groups of other guys, smoking foreign cigars and laughing loud at a joke about economy.

-...Where are we?-I muttered astonished.

-The Titanic, 1912.-Sylvie said unimpressed. Then used a green magic around her, the suit from the TVA was erased and replaced by a black vintage one. -You should mix around too.-She pointed at me and when I looked, just like a fairy godmother, my clothes were replaced by a long blue silk dress.

-What have you done?!-I said staring at myself.

-It's just an illusion, chill.-She rolled her eyes.

Sylvie walked away like nothing was happening, while I tried to focus only on following her, but it was hard when you are surrounded by ancient paintings and statues, people wearing diamond necklaces and the crescent panic of hitting an iceberg and sinking into the ocean.

We took some stairs and reached a bigger saloon, one with a huge orchestra, the violins so perfectly playing that something inside of me made me wanna cry. In front of it, couples were waltzing and more ahead lots of tables with waiters wandering through them taking orders.

Sylvie just chose one of them randomly and sat, so relaxed on that ship that I thought I'd have to remind her that it would sink at any minute.

I sat by her side while she observed the syncronized couples dancing to the melody from the instruments. The music was slow, and somehow melancholic, or not, maybe it was just my interpretation since I felt that way.

I observed the timpad in my hands.

"Was none of it real??"

How could he even think that?

I turned the metallic device around and memories wich I couldn't forget came back to my mind.

Written on the back, with a permanent marker, I wrote once:

"Mobius M. Mobius" and cat ears drawn on the side.

I remember exactly when I did that:

"So everybody has one of those?" I said when I was still learning about the TVA.

"Yes, everyone" he showed me the timepad on his hands.

"But what if you loose it, how will you find it?"

"Um...I don't know"

"You should write your name or something, that way someone is going to find it and return it to you"

"Write?"

"Here" I grabbed a pen and held the timepad still in his hands next to me. Then wrote his name in my best calligraphy. "Now you won't lose it"

He chuckled and looked at the letters.

"Yeah, I won't" his eyes stared into mine. "And look, it even has cat ears"

"To make it cute!" I laughed back.

But he lost it. He didn't just loose the timepad, he lost something even more important. If it was important for him actually. All we lived was in doubt for me now.

A tear fell fastly from my eye.

-You're really going to cry now?-Sylvie spoke in that "I don't care about your feelings" tone of hers.

I cleaned any sign of tears in my face and took a deep breath. Then glanced at her.

-I'm not.-I lied.-Why are you interested anyway?

-I'm not.

-Great.

-Great.

I looked at the orchestra, each instrument doing their job, like engines in a huge machine. Was I part of a machine too? Did I have a purpose in life? At the beginning I thought I was born to serve to Ego, then to the TVA, then to Mobius. But now I felt so lost. I felt like a lost piece from something big being build.

-I'm kind of curious...-Sylvie spoke suddenly and I turned to her- What was your mistake? What made them capture you?

-...My Nexus Event?

-Yeah, that bullshit.

I looked down at the dress then at her:

-I killed my master.

She opened her eyes wide and lifted her eyebrows, then gave an unconvinced smile:

-You killed someone?

-Yes.

-You?-She chuckled- No fucking way.

-Why wouldn't I?

-You look so...-She gesticulated- So naive, I don't know, it doesn't suit you.

-Exactly what they said.

She turned quiet by my words.

-I killed him so I could escape.-That seemed like in another lifetime now.

-You were a prisioner?

-Almost like that.-I said remembering everything- He wasn't... the most gentle person you know- I chuckled bittersweetly- It was...hard.

-What do you mean hard?

-He took everything from me...-My voice sounded weak- I was...used.

I was going to say something else but she told me to stop, then, leaned on the table and with her hand, a sparkling green magic reached the side of my head. She fastly stopped and got back to her seat. The eyes staring into oblivion, the mouth a little opened.

-You saw it, didn't you?-I asked and she still seemed schocked.

She nodded with her head silently.

-How could you join the TVA after that?-She asked.

-Anything seemed better than death.-I explained.-Anything to survive seemed better, I...I've been doing that my whole life.

Her emerald eyes met mine, and just by that, I felt like Sylvie could understand my struggle.

-And what about you?-I asked her- You never told me what you did.

She sniffed and looked around the room for a moment, then back at me:

-I don't know.

-...What?

-I don't know. They never told me.-Her smile reflected pain- I...I was just a fucking child...And they wanted to kill me.

I remembered the girl from the trial. I could imagine Sylvie at her place, being judged by something she had no idea of what it was. Just a girl sentenced to death. At that moment I could understand her hate.

-But you escaped.-I said.

-I managed to take that bitch's timepad.-She explained- And...just started to run. Run through the whole timeline, through all the branches. Alone.

She had grown up like that. With no one else to rely on, with no one to tell her that it would be alright, without her family, without friends, only fearing for her life. She had a strentgh I couldn't even possibly imagine. I didn't even need to use my powers to understand how sadly and how much she suffered.

-That's impressive.-I complimented.

She leaned her head to the side in a gesture close to "thank you", but continued quiet, her eyes with a whole story behind them.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

8 Musicians in that ship. The same ones that would continue playing until the end. Their passion for music was quite admirable.

A woman with a dark hair tied in a bun with ornaments swinged gracefully with her partner, a man older than her, his brown hair already had some white strands indicating his age, while he conduced her through the dance floor. Their posture was perfect, the sincrony, the rythm of their bodies along the beat just in point. But what impressed me was their glance towards each other. None of them avoided it, almost in a trance. But it didn't look like true love. More like an obligation.

Even though there were couples destined to each other in front of us, the guy and the girl who passed in front of us were more in love. Her strawberry hair along with his blonde one shaking in the air, their hands glued to each other's. He dressed poorly, she dressed fancy. But they seemed like true soulmates.

-Rose and Jack.-I muttered smiling.

Sylvie observed my enthusiasm and glanced at the young couple running.

-Who was that guy?-She asked suddenly. I turned to her confused.-The one with white hair. Who you yelled at.

I felt a pain in my chest. Who was him? Certainly not the same Mobius I've met. That was a true TVA agent, someone who cared more about the rules then...then what? What was I to him? Have I been just a fool? Someone dumb enough to believe in him?

"I'd choose you"

That was a lie. A damn lie wich I fell in. A lie wich I desired that were true.

I trusted him, I gave myself to him, after all that I've been hurt and broken. I felt used again. I put my hands across my body, hugging it, trying to protect myself from the universe.

-Somebody that I used to know.-I said.- Or I thought I knew.

-He's just like the others isn't he?-She guessed.

-I was just a variant to him.-I took a sip of the champagne glass the waiter put on our table. The sparkling bubbles fighting to reach the surface.-A...close variant.

-Jerk.

I smiled at her.

-Oh wow, you're being nice to me!-I teased.

-I'm just saying what he is, that doesn't mean I'm your friend.-She looked away but I noticed a tiny smile at the corner of her lips.

The musicians were playing the music faster, the couple on the dance floor got back to their seats.

-Sylvie.-I looked at her- I know that you don't trust me, and I understand.-I made a pause- But you can't refuse the fact that we are similar, at least on the same level.

-Two variants with nowhere to go.

-Yes.-Both our gazes seemed sad- You knew that at Everest when you saved me. -She continued quiet- If you don't like me that's fine. I've made mistakes, just like you did too. But if I could make a decision right now, I'd rather be by your side than on TVA's.

Sylvie was quiet, her eyes seemed fragile like a little girl's ones. She stared at the fancy glass of champagne in front of her and sighed. Then turned her gaze at me:

-What do you want to know?

⏳

Mobius' POV

She disappeared. Just like that she disappeared into a portal and now I couldn't follow her. I didn't know where she went, I didn't know what to do. I just kept staring at the wall she was before. She and the Loki Variant, together.

The TVA was immersed in an organized chaos, when I say organized I mean everbody who wasn't a hunter locking themsevels into their rooms, while the hunter squads were having a meeting with Ravonna to come up with a solution. The red lights were still activated, giving a bloody shade to the whole agency while I walked through those hallways.

Could that really be the end? She really betrayled me? Acted like she loved me but in reality was plannibg to destroy the TVA?

I stared at the poster on the wall. How many times I looked at that poster admired of my job, admired of the legacy I thought I was making.

"FOR ALL TIME AND ALWAYS"

The TVA trusted me. They expected me to do the right decision, protect the Sacred-Timeline at all costs.

At all costs.

"How many lives are enough for the Time-Keepers to be satisified? How much blood of innocents are you willing to have in your hands for them?"

I walked with no sense of direction. I looked at the view outside from the TVA. How imponent, how huge. Y/N looked impressed at that so many times, she used to stop by the windows and just look outside saying "Imagine how the other places in the universe are. It's so magnificent."

But now I was staring at those windows alone. I was remembering her alone. And somehow I felr abandoned, left behind.

I continued walking until I've found myself in her room. I opened the door wich of course she left open, she was so careless about thise things.

Incredible how things changed in just a day. How earlier that morning we were on that bed and I was telling myself "She is the love of my life". Wich now just turned to be "Did she ever really love me?"

I had an anger inside, I tried to close my fists to avoid it. Y/N's room was the same just like when she arrived at the TVA, she never decorated, never put a touch of her's in that room. She always told me that she never felt comfortabke enough to do it.

I think that....Loosing her, specially in that way, made me feel lost. Made me loose my mind as well. I just remember raging, throwing mobils on the floor, messing the sheets, chairs being throwed around. Everything chaotic, like a thunder passed through that room.

I fell on my knees on the floor and I cried. I've heard in many lifetimes that men shouldn't cry, that it wasn't "masculine", or doing that made men weak. I didn't care. I cried my lungs out, the tears blocked my view, blurring everything in front of my eyes as I was there, in the middle of that mess, with that huge emptiness and pain inside of me. And that just got worse when I saw the object in front of me.

I grabbed it delicately in my hands, the cold metal touching my skin, it was so big on her hands but so tiny in mine. The heart shaped padlocker seemed to stare at me, disapproving and judging what I did. And all tbe good memories, all the sweet moments this time torutured me.

"M + Y/N/Inital"

I squeezed the object in my hands, closed my eyes and let the tears fall, I sobbed, if I was weak because I cried than I'd be the weakest man on the universe.

It couldn't have been just an illusion. What I felt was real, and I knew that she did too.

It was real but it ended.

Somehow, in the middle of our path, we lost ourselves. And the happiness we had in the beginning turned into sadness in the end.

I couldn't help but miss her.

⏳

Y/N's POV

-Everything.-I answered.-What did you mean by the TVA's employees being the Time-Keepers' toys?

-Apparently none of know, not even you.-She lifted her eyebrows.

-What is it Sylvie?

She took a sip of her champagne, probably because that information would be too much to say sober. Then, looked at me serious:

-They're variants.

I thought I didn't hear her right.

-What?-I repeated.

-The TVA Agents, all of them. They're variants, just like you and me.

I thought I'd fall from my chair. It couldn't be possible.

The ship seemed to be spinning around as she said those words, I seemed to have awaken from a huge lie.

-N-No it can't be - I shaked faslt my head.

-It is. They're a bunch of hypocrites. They're all variants.

-How would you know that??

-Look, everytime I enchant someone, I need to use one of their memories, and all the TVA Agents I enchanted, all of them had memories before the TVA. Like real people.

-People...with normal lives...?

-Yeah.

I hold ny hands on the table, I thought I'd faint. The truth was too much for me to handle.

All this time, all this time I've been suffering that prejudice they had with me, with the variants that passed through that system, they were just like us. None of them was superior, we were all the same in a sick game created by the Time-Keepers.

Mobius was a variant too.

I paralyzed, the music seemed to be in an evil melody as I stares at the dance floor with my thoughts far away from there.

He was just like me. He probably had a life before. A normal life with friends, family, maybe a jet ski and a woman he loved. Just that thought made me loose my breath. We hid our relationship, we pretended so much and for what? There was nothing that made us different. I was never inferior to him after all.

And I didn't know if I should be glad or frustrated by that thought.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream so much that the whole ship would listen. I felt like an idiot.

-If that comforts you, they probably don't know either.-Sylvie added.

Yes. Mobius didn't know about that. But could he believe in it? Could he really accept the truth? Or would he hate it? Would he refuse and feel disgusted to be a variant? That didn't seem like him. But I didn't know how he'd react anymore, it's like everything I knew was erased like a draw in the sad, eaten by the waves.

-So the Time-Keepers are manipulating everyone.-I told her.

-That's why I'm going to kill them.

-If they can brainwash the whole TVA they are powerful enough to kill you in instants.-I warned her- It's too dangerous Sylvie.

-And what else should I do?-There was a pause because none of us knew what to say.- Wait for them to kill me instead? They won't give up Y/N. They won't stop.

How many lives were taken. How many children like Sylvie and Nebula suffered. Couples were separated, fathers lost their sons, brothers lost their siblings, friends loosing friends. Variants loosing their lives for what? For nothing.

The Sacred Timeline seemed like a joke. A cruel joke created to make people like us suffer. An apartheid created to make us feel inferior, to kill us, when in the end we were destroying people of our own kind. I hated the TVA. I hated the Time-Keepers.

-But Ravonna talks with them-I told her- Why wouldn't she know?

-Maybe they are manipulating her too.-Sylvie thought- Or maybe she knows but keeos thinking she's superior. I wouldn't be surprised.

Well I was surprised, I was damn surprised.

-Wait.-I said suddenly.-M-My friend, B-15, you enchanted her at Roxxcart.

-Who?

-That woman, the hunter from TVA.

-...Oh, yes.

-Did you see her memories? Was she a variant?

-She was.-Sykvie nodded with her head- I remember exactly her...Uh where was it? Right, she was in a house in the suburbs, with many relatives, in Seattle I think she said that.

-Oh My God...

-Does she know?

-She didn't....-I remembered B-15 staying away all this time, maybe her head was confused, maybe the enchantment made her remember something- But I think she does now.

⏳

Mobius' POV

-You're here.-Ravonna said as I walked through the doors entering her office. -Please sit.

-I don't want to. Thanks.-I was still too schocked for that.

Ravonna didn't say anything at first, I must've looked a mess, while I still held the padkock in my hand closed.

-I'm sorry Mobius.-She tried to comfort me- She betrayled your trust. As I said.-She touched ny shoulders and lifted my chin to look at her- She is a variant. They don't care about anything else but themselves.

I didn't think that was true. I've met many variants in my life and just some of them were selfish. I couldn't agree with Ravonna's vision even if Y/N done that.

-I wonder how she got a timepad.-Ravonna walked through the office and stares at her trophies on the shelves.

-She stole mine.-I said.

She stopped at her feet then turned to me:

-She...stole your timepad?-She asked again maybe not believing in my words.

-Yes. It was mine. The one she used on the portal, she stole it while I tried to talk with her.

-That's it.-She spoke with her eyebrows lifted.

Ravonna walked fast to the back of her desk and grabbed a radio:

-Hunter Squads Beta and Alpha, I'll send a location to the Variants, you'll capture them and bring them back to the TVA.-She said with a visible enthusiasm, then turned off the radio.

-The variants' location? And how do you know that?-My heart speeded by that thought.

-All thanks to you Mobius.-She smiled pointed to me, her finger touched my chest.- With your timepad I can track them.

-...How is that possible?

-After Lamantis I needed to be more...-She looked up searching for the right words- Cautious.

-You put a tracker on my timepad?!-I felt like Ravonna was spying on me.

-It's just a way so I can find you. And it worked- She didn't trust me- now we'll be able to catch those two variants- She went back to her desk and put her hands on it, she was typing something on her pannel- And prune them.

The air escaped from my lungs, I stepped back in schookness, thought I'd fall. She was going to prune Y/N.

-Prune...? But that's not what we talked about earlier Ravonna!

-That was before she attempted against the TVA!-She spoke fiercely- Before she and that Loki Variant did their little riot. She will be pruned Mobius. It's already time.

I shaked my head in a "no". That wasn't right it didn't feel right. If that was what I was supoosed to do at my job then why I didn't want to? Even if Y/N hurt me I didn't want her death. I didn't enjoy seeing people dying. I never did. I never wanged to kill but I thought it was necessary. I didn't want to see that girl from earlier die, I didn't want to see any variant die. But I had no chouce before. I thought I was serving a noble cause.

But at that moment that didn't seem like a noble cause. That was just murder. Either Y/N nor the Sylvie deserved to die.

-You won't even do a trial?

-There is no need for trials.-She said- The decision has been made. The guards are already after her Mobius.

There was no justice in that room anymore. There was no justice in that system. It all turned into a blacklist of people to kill.

And I couldn't do anything to stop it.

⏳

Y/N's POV

The waltz continued, the couples doing impressive spins on their partners as the song moved along, the chandeliers iluminated the ship, and somewhere in that vehicle Jack was drawing Rose naked.

Everything felt unreal. From the environtment to Sylvie's truth, from Mobius starting to hate me to my escape at the TVA.

I closed my eyes absorving that moment. The smell of meat from the industrial kitchen nearby, the sound of the orchestra and the steps of people on the floor, the slow movement of the sea. Never in my life I'd imagine I'd live such a chaotical moment like I was living now.

-Quite hard to belive isn't it?-Sylvie said and I looked at her.-Welcome to the club.

I reached for her hand on the table and touched it, she was so sad, so abandoned. Her mix with anger and fear made me tremble. That girl passed through so much on her own. I tried to pass some confort to her, I stared into her eyes and she gave a light smile wich I replied. And through all that madness, I found a comfortable emotion of someone who had found a friend. Even if she didn't want to admit it.

-VARIANTS SPOTTED!-A voice cut the silenve and made my heart heavy. I panicked inside, Sylvie's eyes met mine in fear and we looked back.

TVA agents, lots of them, a whole squad after us. They've found us.

-Shit!-She swore and got up from the table.- We need to go, now! Use your timepad!

I got up and went by her side as the guards came, I pressed the screen but it didn't work. The timepad refused to do anything.

-What are you waiting for?!!!-She demanded.

-It's not working!-I said.

-Let me see this-She took it from my hands and tried it. Nothing.- Fuck.

We glanced back at the guards, they were taking anything in their way, like huge trators in a farm. Tables, chairs, people, musicians, nothing could stop them. The branch was already being formed but at that moment their priority were us.

Sylvie grabbed my wrist and started to run, we tried to find somewhere to escape but in each hallway more kf them appeared.

She even tried to use her powers in some of them, but it still wasn't enough. It was like the whole agency had been activated to capture us both.

Even the lots os of stairs we took weren't enough, the objects I throwed in their directions, the people we passed through trying to create barriers between us.

That's when she tripped and fell on the floor, I was still running when I realized Sylvie wasn't by my side anymore. I stopped and looked back. She hurt hurself and was trying to get up, the guards running on her direction behind.

-SYLVIE!-I shouted.

-GO!-She yelled back telling me to go without her.

Some people would call me dumb for what I did. Others would praise. But all I could think at the moment was "I'm not leaving her behind."

I ran back, seeing them approaching, the danger near. I pulled her from the floor, putting one of her arms around me so I could keep her balanced.

-What are you doing?!! I told you to run!

-I know.-I looked at her- But I'm the most idiot variant of my kind.

Her eyes met mine and she gave a bitter smile through the pain. I tried to keep her balanced and we continued to walk, not run anymore.

We both knew already.

It was no sude to try to run. The sounds of the footsteps were too close.

We seemed like an attraction to the 1912's citizens in the ship. They looked at us amused, sometimes gossiping between them about those two strangers being followed. "Who are them?" "What are they doing?" " Are they allowed here?"

All I know is that I felt the choker being tied to my neck. Any emotions I could feel in Sylvie's body disappeared at that moment. They locked the choker on her too, the illusion of the clothes disappeared. And by just pressing a button they paralyzed us. We couldn't move, we couldn't talk, we couldn't do anything.

I glanced at the Titanic one more time, a huge vubration were felt in the whole ship. They hit something. And I knew at that moment it was the end for both the people in the 1912's and us.

At least Rose would die with Jack.

But I couldn't say the same. My Jack would probably kill me.

We entered the portal and the huge titanic, once grandious and sumptuous, started to sink.

When I opened my eyes, I was being dragged through the TVA's hallways again.

This time nobody would save me.