It was a long journey, getting to the Citadel at the end of time. There were moments when it looked like they were all going to die. There were moments where it looked like death might be the easier alternative. But they did it. Mobius returned to the TVA. Loki and Sylvie faced He Who Remains. They finished their missions.

And, in the end, they all lost.

But in a way, they won, too.

They didn't get what they wanted. They didn't kill the man behind the curtain. They didn't take down the TVA. Instead, they struck a deal. The world keeps on turning, and they get put back in it.

And that's how they ended up here.

Midgard.

2012.

Loki goes first, and he goes alone. It's not that he doesn't trust his friends; it's that he doesn't trust him with them around. It would be too intimidating, like they're cornering him. Instead, Mobius and Sylvie stand below them, within earshot but out of sight.

He climbs up onto the hill undetected, and he only gives himself away when he speaks. "It baffles me that Thor left us here alone for so long and didn't question it when we stayed put."

The other Loki — the original, non-Variant Loki of this timeline — looks over his shoulder at him with an eyebrow raised. "Well. This is interesting."

"It is, isn't it?" TVA Loki agrees. "Now, if I remember correctly, we still have a few minutes until Thor comes back, so let's chat."

TVA Loki sits down on the little mountain of a rock with his legs crossed in front of him. Avengers Loki gives one last glance at the fight happening off in the distance, then turns around to face him.

"Who are you?' Avengers Loki asks.

"What, don't you recognize me?" TVA Loki asks teasingly. "I'm you from another timeline — one that got a little further than yours, so if you have any questions about our future, I'm sure I have an answer for you."

Avengers Loki furrows his brows, but he doesn't speak so TVA Loki continues.

"I'll be honest; I'm not here for you," Loki says. "It's actually a little weird, talking to you right now. But this is your timeline and I wasn't going to ask the man in charge to kill you so we could take your place, so we're going to try to coexist."

Avengers Loki chuckles at that.

"But first, you need to stop trying to take over Midgard," TVA Loki says. "You won't do it. The Avengers will stop you, and Thor will drag you back to Asgard in chains."

Avengers Loki shakes his head. "No. He won't."

"He will," TVA Loki insists. "He did it to me."

"Then perhaps I'm just better than you."

TVA Loki rolls his eyes. "I really am unbearably arrogant, aren't I?"

Avengers Loki doesn't dignify that with a response.

"I'm offering you a second chance," TVA Loki says. "You can either continue with this plan that wildly underestimates the power of human desperation and end up in an Asgardian prison cell for the rest of your life, or you can call it off. Let Barton and Selvig go. Give Thor the Tesseract. And maybe, maybe he'll still let you go home." With a small smile, he adds, "You haven't burned as many bridges as you think."

Avengers Loki shakes his head, amused. "I don't fear a small handful of humans with over-inflated egos."

"You should," TVA Loki says. "They're more than capable on their own, especially with Thor, but I'll tell them your whole plan just to be sure."

"Do it," Avengers Loki says. "It won't change anything."

"No, it won't change anything," TVA Loki agrees. "You'll lose no matter what. I'd just like to speed up the process."

Avengers Loki smiles. "We'll see."

TVA Loki sighs and, under his breath, he mutters, "I was really hoping we could do this the easy way." He sits down on the rock to wait it out until Thor comes back. It shouldn't be too long. He'll just give his brother a hand in taking the other him out of the equation, and hopefully they can all live happily ever after.

Avengers Loki eyes him for a few moments, then turns back around, gazing out over the cliff. TVA Loki sits on his heels to get a decent look over the other him's shoulder. This looks like the end of the fight. Thor should be coming back soon.

Avengers Loki doesn't take his eyes off the fight down below when he says, "Your friends can come out."

TVA Loki chuckles. "I should've known there was no point in trying to hide them." He crawls over to the edge of the mountaintop and peers over at Mobius and Sylvie, who are already looking up at him. "Come on up."

Sylvie climbs up onto the mountaintop without a problem, but Mobius struggles a bit more. Loki reaches down and grabs his arms, and he pulls Mobius up with them. He nods as a 'thank you,' to which Loki responds with a small smile.

"Hey, Loki," Mobius says, holding a hand out to Avengers Loki. "I'm Mobius."

Avengers Loki glances over his shoulder at him. "I suggest you take your me and leave, Mobius, before that opportunity is taken from you."

"That's a very cute threat," Mobius says, "but I'm not scared of you."

"Oh, I wasn't talking about myself," he says with a glance down at the Avengers.

"Well, I'm not scared of them, either," Mobius says.

"Then it seems we have something in common," Avengers Loki says.

Crash!

TVA Loki claps his hands over his ears, instinctively squeezing his eyes shut. He'd forgotten about this part. Thor's hammer against Captain America's shield is an interesting combination, and not a pleasant one to listen to.

Avengers Loki just laughs. "Oh, I like him."

TVA Loki stands over him and looks down at the Avengers. They just stand around for a moment, and though Loki can't hear a word they're saying, he assumes this is when they decide to work together. Steve and Tony can't believe there's a weapon that can hold a torch to the Captain America shield, and Thor can't believe there's a shield that can stop Mjolnir. They're all caught off guard enough to put together a temporary peace treaty.

Thor looks up at the mountain, his hammer already raised and ready to swing, but he pauses when he sees the two Lokis. His eye roll is so dramatic, TVA Loki can see it from all the way back here. He swings his hammer around, and he flies over to the mountaintop, with Iron Man flying not far behind (and Captain America running after them, not quite as quickly). They all make it up fairly quickly, but there's only one that Loki cares about.

As soon as Thor's feet touch the ground, TVA Loki runs over and pulls him into a hug. "Thor, I am so sorry," he says, the words coming out quicker than he's ever heard himself speak. "I never wanted to hurt you. I was just having a little fun — you know, with the Frost Giants and Jotunheim — and I never imagined you'd be banished for it. I should have put an end to it there. I should have told our father what I did and reaped the consequences myself. I was just confused and I was hurt and I let my envy and my ego get the best of me at your expense and I am so, so sorry. I promise, I've learned my lesson. I won't try anything like that again. I won't hurt you again."

Quietly, Sylvie asks, "What did he do?"

Mobius lets out a low whistle. "What didn't he do?"

Thor shoves Loki away from him. "Of all the games you've played, brother, this is the most ridiculous."

"It's not a game; it's —"

"Everything is a game to you," Thor spits.

"Not this," Loki says. "Not anymore."

Thor scoffs. "You stand before me in your Midgardian clothes acting as though you've changed after arguing the opposite just minutes ago, and you have the gall to claim this isn't a game?"

"It's not," Loki insists.

"And, brother," Thor says, "next time you play a game like this, remember that there being two of you makes your trick glaringly obvious."

TVA Loki follows his gaze to the other Loki, who's still sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. He looks up at his brother with an insincere smile.

Tony raises an iron-clad hand from where he stands behind Thor. "Yeah, hi, question: why are there two of them?"

"Because he's an immature ponce," Thor says. "This is but a game to him; a play by a desperate, lonely —"

"Yes, it is," TVA Loki says. "It's a cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak..." He gestures to himself. "... to inspire fear; a desperate play for control."

Avengers Loki rolls his eyes.

"But I've done this before," TVA Loki says. "I watched it play out — I watched all of it play out — and I realized that no throne and no army will ever make me happy. All I really want is to go home."

Thor chuckles dryly. "Ah, yes, always the sentimental one, aren't you?"

Mobius clears his throat and steps forward, getting confused looks from everyone else. "I think we're getting off to a bad start. I'd like to try this again, if that's okay with everyone." He glances around, gauging their reactions.

Thor furrows his brows. "Who are you?"

He holds out a hand. "I'm Mobius."

Thor looks at his hand in disdain, and, after a few seconds, Mobius slowly lowers it.

"I'm here with that Loki." He jerks his head in TVA Loki's direction, then gestures to Sylvie. "And with her, too; that's Sylvie."

Sylvie gives a halfhearted wave.

"That's great," Tony says sarcastically, "but who are you?"

"We're from another timeline," Mobius explains. "Actually, we're from other timelines." He emphasizes the plurality of the word. Gesturing to his friends as he refers to them, he says, "Everything that's happened in this timeline happened in that Loki's timeline and then some; nothing that's happened in this timeline happened in hers, and I don't know anything about my timeline because I've spent the last god-only-knows-how-long working for an omniscient fascist organization that dictates the proper flow of time." He smiles. "Nice to meet you."

Tony stares at him. "This is really above my pay grade."

Thor shakes his head. "He's lying. It's another one of Loki's games."

"It's not," TVA Loki says. "I'm trying to fix my mistakes, but I can't do it if you don't trust me."

"I've long since learned you can't be trusted," Thor says. "I've made that mistake too many times."

"But —"

"If you truly are from another timeline, go back to it," Thor says. "You're not welcome on this one."

Loki sighs and turns to Mobius and Sylvie. He gives them a sad smile. "It was worth a shot."

Mobius pats him on the back sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I know you really wanted to go home."

"I knew there was a good chance it wouldn't work out," Loki says, not that it makes him feel any better. He forces a cheerful smile and claps his hands together once. "Where to now?"

Mobius shrugs. "That's up to you."

Loki thinks for a moment. "When was the jetski popular again? The 1990s? We could get a beach house."

Mobius grins. "I like the way you think." He glances over at Sylvie. "How about it?"

Sylvie sighs, her gaze on the rocky ground beneath her. "I guess."

Loki frowns. She seems even less eager about this than he is. He's seen her get upset before — and for good reasons, too — but she doesn't tend to get sad. Not quite like this.

"What's wrong?" Loki asks.

She shakes her head. "Nothing, I just..." She raises her gaze to meet his, and there are tears in her eyes. "I really wanted to go home." Her voice cracks, and she hastily wipes her eyes before the tears can fall.

"I know," Loki says quietly.

"We were so close. I mean..." She gestures to her brother. "It's Thor! All grown up! It almost started to feel real, you know?"

Loki puts a hand on her back comfortingly. "I know."

Thor eyes her up and down. "Do we know each other?"

Sylvie looks over at him and gives him a small smile. "I'm your sister."

"I don't have a sister," Thor says.

Mobius snorts at that.

"You do where I come from," she says. "I'm the Loki of my timeline."

Thor just looks at her, silent, trying to process that — or possibly weighing whether to believe it.

Steve looks over at Tony and asks, "This is weird, right? Even for the 21st century, this is weird?"

"Honestly," Tony says, "I'm not even sure what's happening right now."

Thor looks at Mobius, thinking. "Are you also a Loki, then?"

Mobius chuckles. "No, I'm just a friend."

Thor looks between the three newcomers, and Loki gives a small smile. Is there still a chance? Is he thinking about it?

Finally, Thor says, "If you're truly here for a fresh start, you will give me the Tesseract. Then we can discuss your future in this timeline."

"I don't have it," Loki says. "But I can tell you where it will be."

Thor raises his brows.

"Stark Tower," Loki says. "You'll find Selvig there with the Tesseract shortly, preparing for the Chitauri arrival."

"Woah, okay, hold on," Tony says quickly. "Why is the Tesseract at my house?"

"Oh, it's obvious, isn't it?" TVA Loki asks. "It's dramatic; poetic, even." With a slightly mischievous smile, he adds, "Stark Tower, once a beacon of hope, now bringing about the end of the world as we know it."

Steve glances at Tony. "You buying it?"

"I don't know," Tony says. "Either there's nothing there and he's stalling for time or he's telling the truth and it's a trap." He looks over at Thor. "Alright, Poindexter, he's your buddy. Thoughts?"

With his gaze firmly on Loki, Thor says, "If this is a trick, I suggest you admit it now, because if I learn of it later, I will kill you where you stand."

"It's not a trick," Loki says. "I know that after everything I've done, every trick I've played and every lie I've told, it's hard to believe, but I promise, I am telling the truth. I want to put an end to this as badly as you do."

Avengers Loki, who's been all but silent since the Avengers returned, begins to laugh.

TVA Loki furrows his brows. "What's so funny? I'm telling them your plan."

"Exactly," Avengers Loki says. "As if that will change anything. I wield the power of the Tesseract, and you believe you can stop me?"

"I know we can," TVA Loki says.

"Good," Avengers Loki says. "I'll take pleasure in watching you fail."

TVA Loki resists the urge to roll his eyes. He crouches down in front of his alternate-timeline counterpart in hopes that speaking to him on the same level will help him seem more sincere. "You'll never become king. Not of Midgard; not of Asgard. Not with me here to spoil the surprises. You only have two choices now: you could stay and watch your plan fall apart, or you could put an end to it now and come home."

"I don't have a home," Avengers Loki says.

"Your home is in Asgard," TVA Loki says. "Your home is with your family."

"I have none," Avengers Loki says. "I killed them all when I laid waste to Jotunheim in a vain attempt to win the love of someone who has none to give."

TVA Loki sighs. He knows the feeling all too well, but he doesn't know how to explain that it's not true; that Odin does love them despite all their faults. "Our father —"

"He is not my father!" Avengers Loki yells.

"Oh, shut up," TVA Loki says, rolling his eyes. "He's the only father we have, and it's a miracle he hadn't disowned us sooner for all the shit we've pulled."

Avengers Loki grits his teeth. "I gave you your chance to leave and you refused. By the end of the day, I will ensure you are nothing more than a statistic; just another life lost in a failed coup against Midgard's rightful new ruler."

TVA Loki shakes his head. "I hate to give up on myself, but I truly think you're a lost cause." He pushes himself to his feet and looks to his brother. "What will happen to him?"

"I don't know," Thor says. "I will take him to Asgard and bring him before our father. He will make the final decision. But first, we must find the Tesseract. Where is this Stark Tower you spoke of?"

"Manhattan, New York," Loki says. "I suggest we bring the Avengers. It can't hurt to be prepared."

The face shield of Tony's mask flips up to reveal his face, and he asks a cautious, "How do you know about the Avengers Initiative?"

"Because we tried to kill each other in my timeline," Loki says. "No hard feelings."

"The Avengers?" Steve repeats, confused. "Is that us?"

"Mm-hmm," Tony hums.

Steve furrows his brows. "Who are we Avenging?"

Tony just shrugs. "I didn't make the name. Fury did."

"Oh, I know!" Loki says. "I don't think I've killed him yet. He's..." He glances back at Mobius. "What's his name? The guy on the ship with that..." He pretends to be holding a large weapon, pantomiming this man's last moments.

"Coulson," Mobius substitutes. "Phil Coulson."

"Right." Loki gestures vaguely at Mobius. "You're avenging Phil Coulson."

Tony stared at him. "You killed Phil Coulson?"

"Well, not in this timeline," Loki says. "And I'm telling you this so that he doesn't get the chance to kill him." He gestures to Avengers Loki, still sitting on the ground. "I'll give you every warning you may need once you've loaded us into that ship of yours flying around somewhere overhead."

Steve glances at Tony. "This feels too easy."

"Good," Loki says. "I want it to be easy. If my promised future in Asgard hinges on our success, I would really like to see us succeed."

"I promised you nothing," Thor says. "If you bring me the Tesseract, I will bring you to Asgard to speak to Father, but I cannot guarantee you a future there."

"That's good enough for me," Loki says.

The Avengers' ship flies back around, nearing them again to pick them up. He hopes there are no handcuffs involved this time. They're incredibly uncomfortable, which he supposes is partially the point.

Mobius squeezes through the now-crowded mountaintop and approaches Avengers Loki. He holds out a hand, offering him some help to his feet. "You're running out of time to change your mind, Loki."

"And you're running out of going to change yours," he says.

"Yeah, well, I think I'll stick to my guns on this one, if that's alright with you." Mobius gives him a smile, then thrusts his hand out again. "Come on, up and at 'em."

Avengers Loki scoffs at his offer and stands up by himself.

"Hey, Thor," Mobius says, his gaze still on Loki, "if Loki were to change his mind and give us the Tesseract willingly, do you think he could get a second chance, too?"

"That would be up to our father," Thor says. "But the Tesseract is of Asgard, and has been lost to us for millennia. Should he be the one to return it to us, I do believe he may be granted clemency for his crimes."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Mobius says, but he's still only looking at Avengers Loki. "You hear that? You've still got a chance to go home. You could be Asgard's hero, bringing home the long-lost Tesseract."

"I don't care what Asgard thinks of me," Avengers Loki says.

"I don't believe that," Mobius says. "In fact, I think that's all you care about. I think that's what all of this is about. You just have too much pride to admit it."

Loki narrows his eyes. "You don't know anything about me."

"I think," Mobius continues, "that all you want is respect. And when you couldn't win people's respect, you settled for their fear instead."

"They should fear me," Avengers Loki snaps.

Mobius shakes his head. "No, they shouldn't, because you don't belong on Midgard with them at all. You belong in Asgard."

"I promise you, I do not," Loki says.

Mobius heaves a dramatic sigh. "Well, if that's how you feel." He shakes his head to himself. "I guess we'll have to tell Frigga that you didn't want to go home."

Avengers Loki freezes.

Mobius just looks at him for a few moments as if waiting for him to speak, but when he doesn't, Mobius cracks a smile. "Come on, you miss her. I know you do."

Loki doesn't speak at first, and it almost looks like he's not going to when he finally says, "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," Mobius says. "It matters to me."

Loki scoffs. "I don't even know you."

"Maybe not," Mobius says, "but I know you."

Loki chuckles dryly. "No, you don't. You know him." He jerks a thumb towards TVA Loki. "But I assure you, we are not the same."

"No, you're not," Mobius agrees. "Which is why I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about you and how much you want to see your mother again. I mean, you never even got to say goodbye."

Loki's mouth falls open just a little bit. When he speaks, his voice is quiet; barely a whisper. "How do you know that?"

"Because I know you," Mobius says again. "Which is why I'm giving you this chance, even though everyone else has already given up on you." He steps towards him and puts a hand on Loki's shoulder, and Loki eyes it uncomfortably. "Even if you do become King of Midgard, you're not going to find happiness here. Put an end to it. All of it. Bring the Tesseract back to Asgard and go give your mother a hug. I think she could use one. And, honestly, I think you could use one, too."

Loki's eyes almost seemed to light up at the mention of his mother; it's become apparent now that they were actually filling with tears. "I can't," he whispers.

"You can," Mobius says. "You're not the villain everyone makes you out to be. This is your chance to finally be the hero."

"I can't," Loki says again. "If you truly knew me, if you truly knew the position I am in, you would know that I can't stop now."

"Yes, you can," Mobius says. "We'll help you. Thanos won't —"

Loki immediately hits his hand away and steps back, and the look in his eyes can only be described as...

Fear

"Loki..." Mobius puts his hands up by his shoulders to show that he's backing off. Both his face and his expression are laced with concern.

Thor cuts in then with, "Who is this Thanos you speak of?"

"He's a Titan," TVA Loki says. "He's set on total domination, and he offered me Midgard if I retrieved the Tesseract for him."

Thor gapes at him. "Why would you do that?"

"I was lonely, desperate, and afraid," TVA Loki says. "And Thanos is not the type of person you say 'no' to."

"Then you know," Avengers Loki says quickly, looking at the other Loki with both fear and desperation on his face. "You know I have to do this."

"No, you don't," TVA Loki says gently.

"He'll kill me," Avengers Loki says. "Slowly. Painfully."

"He won't," Mobius says. "I've seen your entire life, Loki; past, present, and future. I've seen dozens of different ways it went wrong. You lost this battle in nearly every timeline, and Thanos never once sought you out over it. You've been through a lot and it's made you dangerously unstable. He knew that when he gave you this mission, and he knew it could blow the entire thing open. He won't be surprised when it does."

"He'll kill me," Loki says again. "He will. He'll kill me."

"He won't," Mobius repeats firmly. "I promise you, he will not."

"Let him try," Thor says. "We'll kill him first."

Loki looks at him with wide eyes. "You can't."

"He threatened my brother and he threatened the world I love," Thor says darkly. "Believe me, I will find a way."

Loki just looks at him, and finally, finally, that fear he held so close starts to disapate, replaced with... hope.

"Come home with me," Thor says. "Please. Give up the Tesseract and come home."

Loki hesitates, but slowly, he nods. "Okay." He takes a deep breath. "Okay, let's go home."

Tony begins to clap, which would be obnoxious in this situation anyway, but it's even worse with the Iron Man suit on. The mental clanging is deafening. "That was beautiful," he says "Really, very touching stuff. It's always nice to find out that the bad guy is just some dude with daddy issues."

Avengers Loki balls his hands into fists, and TVA Loki just rolls his eyes at the remark. It's not worth putting up a fight about.

Tony gives a smug smile when he sees their reactions, and he continues, "But is anyone else worried about letting not one but two Lokis take the Tesseract?"

"No," Thor says. "I don't trust them for a moment, but I trust myself. Should they renege on their promise, I will ensure the Tesseract still returns to Asgard and I have no qualms about killing them if they get in my way."

"But we won't," TVA Loki says quickly. "Or, you know, I won't. I can't speak for the other me."

"I won't, either," Avengers Loki says. "This is a bargain for all involved."

"No offense, Penn and Teller," Tony says sarcastically, "but you're not exactly the most trustworthy people."

"You don't have to trust them," Thor says. "This is happening with or without you. I will ask permission to use your ship; I will not ask permission to return an Asgardian relic to Asgard."

"Well, at least you're not stealing the ship," Tony mutters. He looks over at Steve. "Alright, Cap, what do you think? You wanna play Air Taxi for a bunch of gods?"

"Not really, no," Steve says. "But if they're going after the Tesseract, I'd like to be there. I've seen what it can do and it's not pretty. I'd like to know that it's in good hands."

"You and I have very different definitions of 'good hands,'" Tony remarks. "Alright, let's load 'em up." He cracks a smile. "Fury's gonna have a field day when he hears about this one."