Overload

You didn't know what you had expected to see on the other side of the glowing door but a boring hallway with 80s wallpaper definitely wasn't it. Loki let go of your hand and you immediately mourned the loss of contact. The portal closed behind you and you looked around frantically, trying to figure out where the hell you were and what might happen now.

"What have you done?" yelled the man in the suit and Loki instantly shot back "I deserve answers, Mobius." You found it comforting to finally have a name to go with the face but you could still feel your body going into shock. You were alone with a stranger and Loki who didn't remember you in a place you had never seen before and now they were arguing right next to you.

You leaned against the wall and took a deep breath before focusing back on their conversation. "What else did you leave out when you showed me my future on the Sacred Timeline?" Loki asked in an accusatory tone and you squinted to ascertain if you had heard him right. The what Timeline? You closed your eyes to try and calm down your racing heart and you startled when Mobius suddenly addressed you.

"Please follow me," he said gently but you felt unable to think, let alone move and you simply stared at him. You were still desperately hoping this was all an obscure dream and you'd wake up laughing about it but something told you that this was in fact reality. You flinched when Loki moved closer to you but you managed to relax when he lifted his arms in the air and smiled faintly at you.

You watched him slowly reach out and offer you his hand and after a moment of tense silence you carefully took it and moved away from the wall. Mobius nodded appreciatively and walked along the seemingly endless hallway to a room that looked like an empty office and asked you to sit down. You released Loki's hand and gingerly sat down in one of the surprisingly comfortable armchairs and gave both of them an expectant look.

Mobius asked if you wanted something to drink and when you asked for tea he only turned around and there was suddenly a steaming mug in his hand. What was this place? You were still trembling with the anxiety of the unknown but at least you weren't terrified out of your mind anymore.

"My name is Mobius M. Mobius and I am an agent of the Time Variance Authority," he stated quietly and it sounded like a sentence he had said many times before. He launched into a detailed explanation of the multiverse, branching timelines, the purpose of the TVA and his role in all of it.

The longer he spoke the wider your eyes went and you wondered if you looked like a goldfish staring at him with an open mouth and a blank expression. What he told you sounded completely and utterly ridiculous and yet, he appeared like a sensible man and Loki was nodding along as if it all made sense. "I have some bad news for you," Mobius added after his monologue and your heart clenched at his sorrowful expression.

"You cannot return to your old life. Now that you have travelled through the Timedoor, you have to stay here." You gaped at him and you forced yourself to take a few deep breaths to prevent a panic attack as your mind scrambled to keep up with the stream of information. You had no idea how to respond to such a statement so you stared at Mobius until he awkwardly cleared his throat and continued.

He pointed at Loki who had been silently listening this entire time and said "This Loki is a Variant and he split off from the Sacred Timeline before he ever had a chance to meet you." Your heart sank at his words and you buried your face in your hands and you could feel hot tears welling up in the corners of your eyes.

"So it's not that he doesn't remember me," you mumbled, "he doesn't know me." Mobius let out an affirmative grunt and handed you a packet of tissues as you kept sniffling. "I'm sorry," he said and it sounded genuine to you. He then turned to Loki and his voice was much sharper than before "You are a selfish brat, you know that? This whole situation is your fault."

Much to your surprise Loki didn't justify himself or make a joke as you had expected but he actually looked remorseful and you could tell he was avoiding your gaze. You sighed and dried off your face before looking at the two men, still unable to produce words due to brain overload.

Mobius opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by Loki who suddenly jumped up and exclaimed "Show me everything." Before the other man could respond he continued "I don't know why you kept this relationship from me but I need to see." Mobius looked like he was going to argue but then he got up and gestured towards the door for you to follow him.

As you were walking along the familiar hallway you wondered how vast this TVA really was and you instantly felt overwhelmed trying to imagine it. "I only showed you what you needed to see," you heard the agent say and you were unsurprised when he received a glare and an angry reply from Loki "That was not your decision to make." You refrained from saying that if this agency really was as powerful as you had been told it was in fact in his power to decide such a thing.

Mobius gave Loki an apologetic smile and admitted that he might have underestimated the importance of this particular aspect of his destined life. You felt admiration for this kind yet strong-willed man rising up in your chest and you knew you would be able to trust his judgement.

You entered a room with a table and chairs that seemed to only contain an ancient looking video projector and you frowned at Mobius who chuckled lightly in response. "It's more exciting than it looks like, I promise," he said with a wink and you instantly felt some of your nervous tension leave your body.

He turned the projector on and you almost fell off your chair when your own face stared back at you from the wall on the other side. "We call this room the Time Theatre. We can look at all the lives on the Sacred Timeline," Mobius explained and you nodded despite having difficulty truly understanding what this meant. Everyone? In the entire existence of time? That sounded so monumental and preposterous that your brain refused to make sense of it.

When you didn't say anything further he pressed play and you watched in astonishment as the day of your first meeting with Loki played out on screen. Looking at yourself from the outside was most certainly the weirdest thing that you had ever experienced and you couldn't tear your eyes away.

Mobius took you through important moments of your relationship with Loki and the way you found each other every time the universe forced you apart. Your heart felt as if it was being broken all over again and the pain was close to unbearable. Your whole body was shaking and when the tears started falling you barely reacted and simply let them stream down your face.

Nothing could have prepared you for the raw agony you were experiencing as you suffered through the recording of your own memories as if it were the worst movie. Soon you were sobbing and hiccuping from not breathing properly and you couldn't help but glance at Loki whose eyes were glued to the screen.

Mobius asked several times if you wanted to stop but you shook your head and continued watching through a curtain of tears. When you reached the moment of Loki's death you finally couldn't take it anymore and with a harrowing scream you put your arms on the table and buried your head in them.

The recording was turned off and your weeping was the only sound left echoing through the room. You lifted your head and you flushed with embarrassment when two pairs of eyes met you with worry and sympathy.

Looking at the Loki next to you was like a stab into your already withered heart and you were overwhelmed by a mixture of devastating sadness and the deep love you felt for him. You knew rationally that he was not your Loki but your emotions were not listening to reason at this point. Everything about him from his sleek hair to the mischief sparkling in his eyes reminded you of happier times and you felt crushed under the weight of the realisation that he didn't share them.

You were a stranger to him and he only brought you with him to the TVA because you were part of an answer to a question that he had. You wanted to feel angry at him but your mind was set on flooding your senses with grief and disappointment instead.