The first thing Loki does when he wakes up in the morning is go check on Sylvie.

It's ridiculous, he's sure. They'd spent half the night together before they reluctantly agreed to return to the palace, and she was fine all the while. She was better than fine, even. She seemed happy – truly, genuinely happy, in a way he doesn't often get to see. But after last night, he just wants to be sure that she's doing alright, just in case.

He knocks on the door, gently enough not to wake her if she's still asleep, but it seems he was worried about that for no reason, because she answers with a quiet, groggy, "Yeah?"

"Just... checking in," he says awkwardly. He really didn't think of what he would say if she answered him, which is ridiculous because he wanted her to answer him. He's awful at this.

He tries not to put too much thought into what the "this" is. He's not sure he's ready to admit that yet, even to himself.

"You can come in," she mumbles.

Loki opens the door, and he's met with the sight of a room very much like his own. These really are the most boring, standard empty rooms in existence, aren't they? He would very much prefer his own chambers to these dull, lifeless guest rooms.

Sylvie's sprawled out in bed, her face pressed into her pillow and her body half-out of the blankets. She turns her head, and her hair flops in her face. How she can see him, he can't even fathom.

Loki leans against the doorframe, a slight smirk on his lips. "You look comfortable."

"Mm," she hums.

"The bed was alright?" he asks, though he suspects he knows the answer.

"Mm-hmm," she hums. "Getting used to it." She brings her hand to her face and lazily brushes the hair out of her eyes. "Should I get up?"

"That's your choice," he tells her. "There's nowhere we need to be if you'd rather stay in bed."

"Mm." She just closes her eyes again, a look of contentment on her face.

Loki folds his arms over his chest, watching her with a small smile on his lips. She's so cute; just a sleepy little girl who's finally found the perfect sleepy bed. He's glad he came in to check on her, if only because it means he gets to see this. He's still getting used to seeing her happy. Seeing her half-awake is a whole new kind of precious.

He takes a step back and out of the room, reaching for the doorknob. He'll let her get some rest. Maybe he'll come back in an hour or so and see if she's more awake then.

"Where're you going?" she mumbles.

Loki pauses where he stands, brows raised. Her eyes are closed. How did she...?

Well, she is a goddess. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised.

"Back to my room," he says. "You can come get me when you're ready. I won't leave without you."

"Mm-mm," she mumbles.

Loki just looks at her. "No?" he repeats, amused.

"Stay here."

"You want me to stay?" he repeats. "Stay where? On the windowsill?" Although, he must admit, the ledge on the windowsill looks like it could make a nice seat if there was some sort of cushion on top.

Sylvie rolls over and pats the space she's just freed up in bed.

Loki stares at her. "You want me... in your bed." That's a little much, isn't it? This feels like they're moving too fast. They can't just...

Sylvie just pats the bed again.

Still, he's hesitant, but she really does seem sure of herself (or as sure as a person can be when they're only half-awake) and it's not as though he really has anything to do in his room, so...

He closes the door behind himself, as carefully and quietly as he can, and then approaches her bed. She pulls her arms into her chest, giving him space to lie down. He pushes the covers side, removes his slippers, and sits down on the mattress, swinging his legs up so they rest in front of him.

He's not sure he's ready to lie down. He's not sure he's ready to go that far yet. That just seems like a lot. Sleeping in the forest with her was one thing, but in a bed? That just feels too intimate. It feels too close to starting something they can't unstart. And maybe Sylvie doesn't care, maybe she's just too tired to think it through, but he's too afraid of losing what they have to risk building something greater.

So he just sits, his back resting against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him. He covers his lap up with the blanket, if only so he doesn't accidentally hold it hostage beneath himself while Sylvie tries to twist and turn in her sleep.

But she doesn't twist and turn. Instead, she simply throws an arm over him, her head resting somewhat awkwardly in his lap. He bites back a laugh. She's so cute when she's tired. He hopes this isn't the last he sees of it.

He gently brushes her hair out of her face, and she hums contentedly. She seems to enjoy it, as much as anyone can enjoy anything in this state, so he continues brushing out her curls between his fingers, playing with her hair gently as he lets her drift off back to sleep.

He looks down at her, a small smile on his lips. Oh, how he loves her, his little sleeping beauty.

... Love being a general term of affection, of course, and he certainly doesn't mean anything by it. It's a poor choice of words, probably, but that's all. He's obviously not saying–

He drops his head back against the headboard and closes his eyes, fighting back a groan.

He absolutely does love her, and it's probably about time he's honest with himself about it.

~~~

Loki and Sylvie are officially out of bed, dressed, and ready for the day.

There's only one problem:

Mobius.

"I hope he's still in his room," Loki says, as much to himself as to Sylvie. "He wouldn't have left us, would he?"

"Well, he did last night," Sylvie reminds him, "so I don't know, he might've."

Those are not the words of reassurance that Loki had been hoping for.

"What should we say to him?" Loki asks.

"I'd say 'good morning' is probably a good place to start."

Loki rolls his eyes. "You're not helping."

"You're not helping, either," she tells him. "Stop worrying so much. It's Mobius. He loves you. Whatever you say is going to be good enough."

Loki presses his lips in a firm line while he thinks that over. She's probably right. He probably is overthinking it. He just... wants things to work out. That's all. He just wants everything to work out.

So together, they cross the hall to Mobius's room, and Sylvie stands back as he knocks on the door.

And now, they wait.

... And they wait.

And they keep waiting.

This is getting to be a very long wait.

He really doesn't feel like it should be taking this long.

Shit, Mobius really did leave without them, didn't he? He didn't even bother waiting for them. He just woke up and left. He can't believe–

Wait.

Loki put his ear to the door. Is that...?

He huffs quietly and stands up straight. "He's still asleep." He can hear the snoring from out here.

"Oh." Sylvie's quiet for a moment. "Well, what do we do?"

"I don't know," Loki admits. "I guess we wait until he wakes up."

Sylvie thinks about this. "Or we could go eat breakfast and then come back?"

Loki frowns. "I don't want him to wake up while we're gone and think we left him."

Sylvie frowns, too. "That's a good point."

They just look at each other for a few seconds.

Sylvie slumps her shoulders. "I should've gone back to sleep."

Loki chuckles. "If you'd like to go back to sleep, you are more than welcome to." He extends his hand to her, a jokingly dramatic air to his movement. "I will accompany you back to your chambers, m'lady."

Sylvie giggles – giggles! He didn't know she knew how to do that! – and takes his hand in hers as she curtsies. "Thank you, Your Highness."

He gestures with his free hand toward her room, but they've barely taken a step when Mobius's groggy voice stops them.

"Is somebody out there?"

The two gods share a look, and, much to Loki's dismay, they let go of each other's hands. Sylvie takes a step back, and Loki takes a step toward the door.

He knocks again, which is probably stupid but he's not really sure what else to do. "We were wondering if you wanted to come to breakfast with us," he says. That's a good opening line, isn't it? He's not jumping into an apology; he's being friendly and saving his sincerities until they're face to face. That's a good idea, right? Maybe? As an afterthought, he adds, "If you're too tired, you don't have to..."

"Well, if you're up, I should probably get up, too," Mobius says.

And then it's quiet, save the quiet shuffling around in his room. Loki takes a small step away from the door, clasping his hands awkwardly behind his back. And now, they wait. Again.

It's two or three very awkward and uncomfortable minutes later when Mobius finally opens the door, pulling on his analyst jacket as he does. He greets them with a cheerful smile, which is so very far out of what Loki had assumed was the realm of possibility, he doesn't even know how to react.

"'Morning!"

Loki blinks a few times.

He's so...

Okay.

With everything.

With them.

Like last night never even happened.

"Hi, Sylvie," he adds, giving her a wave.

"Hi?" She gives him an awkward wave in return. "You seem... happy."

Loki shoots her a look over his shoulder. Why would she point it out? Why couldn't they just accept that Mobius has moved on and do the same? This was about to be so easy!

Mobius just shrugs. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Loki furrows his brows, eyeing him almost suspiciously, but Mobius doesn't seem to notice.

"So," he says, looking between the two gods, "breakfast?"

"Uh... yeah," Loki says uncertainly. "Let's go eat."

So he leads the way, his friends following behind him as he brings them to the dining room, and he truly cannot for the life of him figure out what to do next. Does he say something? He kind of feels like he should. Is this some sort of test? Is Mobius trying to see if he'd apologize on his own without being guilted into it? Is it weird that this is starting to make him feel more guilty than the cold shoulder would have?

He's going to do it, he decides. He's going to apologize. He's going to broker a peace – though they seem to have already reached one, strangely enough – and then everything will be alright. He just has to–

"Hey, thanks for leaving the other Loki alone last night," Mobius says. "I'm sure he'll never admit it, but I really do think he appreciated it."

Loki furrows his brows, looking back at him with a frown. "How did you know we left him alone?"

Mobius furrows his brows, too. "You told me."

Loki stares at him. "I told you?" he repeats, dumbfounded. "I haven't seen you since you stormed off last night." Is that a bad way to phrase that? That's probably a bad way to phrase that.

Somehow, Mobius looks more confused at that. "What are you talking about? I saw you on the Rainbow Bridge last night."

Loki scoffs. "How did you get to the Rainbow Bridge?"

"I walked there."

"You walked to the Rainbow Bridge?"

"Why are you acting like you didn't know this?" Mobius asks. "We walked back together."

"No, we didn't," Loki says, and the longer this conversation goes on for, the more confused he gets.

"He was with me all night," Sylvie says, and Loki gestures to her emphatically. Yes, he was! The past 12 hours have been spent entirely either with her or in bed – and definitely not walking halfway across Asgard in the dead of night.

"No, he said you already went to bed," Mobius tells her, and then he pauses, gears clearly still turning in his head. He looks up at Loki, an almost guilty look on his face. "Was I not supposed to say anything?"

Now Sylvie is looking at him suspiciously, which is ridiculous because she of all people should know that he went to bed and stayed in bed.

"Mobius, I have no idea what you're talking about," Loki tells him, as genuinely as he can, both to convince Mobius that he's lost his mind and to convince Sylvie that he's not hiding anything. "Sylvie and I went to the garden, and when we came back, you weren't in your room, so we both went to bed."

"But you..." Mobius stops walking, just watching him with a frown on his face. He doesn't just look confused anymore. He almost seems... disheartened.

Loki sighs and puts his hands on Mobius's shoulders. "I'm sorry," he says – genuinely, sincerely, from the bottom of his heart, and he hopes Mobius can see that. "I don't know if you think I said it last night, but I'm saying it now. I'm sorry that I got so defensive. You know how much my mother means to me and I am overjoyed to have her back in my life, but that did not give me the right to lash out, and for that, I apologize."

Mobius just looks at him, brows furrowed as he tries to work this out in his head. "Maybe I dreamt it," he says.

Loki's face falls.

He worked on that apology all night, and Mobius won't even acknowledge it.

"But I don't understand how I..." Mobius trails off with a frown. "Was it...? It couldn't have been. You were too..."

Loki looks at Sylvie helplessly, but she doesn't even seem to notice. Her gaze is on Mobius, and she almost looks... concerned. Should Loki be concerned, too? Is this concerning, or is it just weird? He was leaning more toward weird, but maybe...?

Sylvie sighs and pats Mobius on the back. "Let's go eat."

Mobius hesitates, but then he nods. "Yeah, we should eat."

So they start walking again, and though Loki again takes the lead, he glances back at Mobius every now and then. He still seems so... discouraged. Loki's beginning to wish he did go to the Rainbow Bridge last night, not even because it would have been a good time to apologize (though he does maintain that there was nothing wrong with waiting until the morning and letting everything calm down) but because he hates seeing Mobius like this.

Finally, Mobius says, "You're gonna break your neck if you keep swiveling around like that."

Loki backs himself up, squeezing in between Mobius and Sylvie so he can look at his friend and still see where he's going in the process. "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be, " Mobius says, plastering on a smile that just feels off. "I'm fine. I'm just..." He shrugs. "Losing my marbles."

Sylvie raises a brow. "You can see how that could be not fine."

"Okay, but you see how that could be fine," Mobius counters.

The two gods share a look.

"Not really, no," Sylvie says.

Mobius heaves a dramatic sigh. "Guys, I'm fine," he says. "I am incredibly confused and questioning my sanity, but I am fine – and I'll be even better after breakfast." He flashes them a smile.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Loki asks him. "Because if there is something wrong, Asgard does have some of the smartest healers in the–"

"If anything not fine is going on," Mobius interrupts, "it's definitely not not fine enough that we need to get anybody else involved."

"We just want to know that you're okay," Sylvie tells him. "You dying would put a bit of a damper on our return to Asgard, don't you think?"

Mobius huffs a laugh. "Well, rest assured," he says, "if I have any reason to suspect that I'm dying, you will be the first people I tell."

"Good," Sylvie says.

Loki eyes him suspiciously. This whole situation is just weird. He supposes he could just assume the whole thing was some weird dream, but then, with one of his best friends' sanity on the line, he's not so sure he wants to assume anything. Maybe he'll talk to Frigga about it tonight – or Heimdall, even. If Mobius really did walk all the way across Asgard, Heimdall would know. He could make some sense of this senseless situation.

Suddenly, Mobius's hands are on his head, his neck, his face, feeling all around.

Loki's brows shoot up. "Mobius?"

"Are you alright?" Sylvie asks quickly.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Mobius says. "I'm just trying to find where the other head is, 'cause you're looking at me like I've got two of 'em."

Loki rolls his eyes, but, ridiculous as that was, he really does find himself relaxing a little bit at that. Things can't be going too poorly if he's cracking jokes. The day he stops making jokes is the day Loki will know that something is truly, genuinely wrong with him.

Sylvie must have the same train of thought, but for the rest of the walk to the dining room, she doesn't seem all too concerned about Mobius, either. Even Mobius himself doesn't seem concerned anymore. If it's still bothering him, he's not showing it. It's amazing what one bad joke can do to change the mood.

They all sit down together with their food, and Loki devours his breakfast as though he hasn't eaten in years. He doesn't know how long it's going to take for him to get used to eating in the palace again, but until that day comes, he's going to savor every bite of everything (and by savor, of course, he means shove it in his mouth as fast as possible before his body can tell him he's full).

Fortunately for his ego, Sylvie is also eating faster than the average Asgardian – the consequences of hunting for food in apocalypses, he'd assume – so he doesn't feel too out-of-place. Is it improper etiquette from a prince? Probably. Does he care? Not really.

He's so absorbed in his meal, he doesn't even realize that he has a visitor until he feels the pat on his back and the jokingly patronizing, "You're putting Volstagg to shame, brother."

Loki wipes his mouth with his napkin and finishes chewing (yes, he still has some manners) before he looks up at Thor, standing over his shoulder. "If you'd had to eat the foods I've eaten of late, you would be doing the same." Which is only a slight jab at the TVA; it was the things – he hesitates to even call some of it food – he ate before he found himself on Earth that would really horrify his brother.

"I suspect it would be wise I not ask," Thor remarks. He sits down next to Sylvie, noticeably without a plate of his own. It's touching, actually. He's not here to eat. He's just here to sit with them.

"What're you up to?" Sylvie asks conversationally, and it seems manners are not inherent in all royalty, because her mouth is full of food when she speaks. It's kind of cute. She's not just one of those princesses he'd been forced to socialize with for centuries. She's just... her.

"Not much," Thor says. "Father and I have been discussing how best to go about bringing order back to the Nine Realms. I was thinking I might return to Midgard first to..." He smiles sheepishly. "Discuss some things with Jane Foster."

Loki suspects he intends to do a lot more than simply discussing things with her (though he supposes if it's been a year since he's seen her, maybe discussing should be their first priority).

Sylvie takes another bite of food. "Who's Jane Foster?"

Loki huffs. Who's Jane Foster? Oh, she doesn't know what she's getting herself into with that. He suspects his brother could talk for hours about this woman he only knew a matter of days. He didn't understand it then, but now...

Fortunately, Thor seems to be playing it cool for now, because instead of a long ramble, he answers with a somewhat bashful, "She's a woman I met on Midgard last year. I had to leave rather abruptly, and with the Bifrost destroyed, I haven't been able to see her until now."

"Ooh, a woman?" Sylvie bounces her eyebrows suggestively.

Thor shakes his head to himself. "Yes, a woman," he says, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "It was Mobius who suggested I visit her, actually. I'd planned to focus on the Nine Realms first, but.." He shrugs sheepishly.

Loki gives Mobius a weird look. "It was your idea?"

Mobius just shrugs. "I think they're cute together."

"When do I get to meet her?" Sylvie asks.

"I don't know," Thor admits. "I don't even know that she'll want to see me. A year is a long time in a mortal's life. She may have moved on."

"Trust me," Mobius says, "she has not moved on. At all. She is head-over-heels for you."

Thor gives him a small smile. "I hope you're right."

Sylvie props her head up on her hand, elbow on the table like the true apocalyptic escapee she is. "What's she like?"

"She's a scientist," Thor tells her. "An astrophysicist; she studies the stars. She's a genius, truly. She always wants to learn more, and she'll let nothing get in her way."

"Wow, you must like her," Sylvie remarks. "You didn't even mention if she's pretty."

Thor chuckles. "Oh, she is beautiful," he says, "but she is far more than that."

Sylvie smiles wistfully. "She sounds amazing," she says. "You should bring her to Asgard someday."

"I don't know that that would be an option," Thor admits. "Father would never approve of my bringing a mortal to Asgard."

"He let Mobius stay," Sylvie reminds him.

Loki glances at his friend in question, who gives him a small, awkward smile when he notices.

"Mobius, I suspect, was an exception," Thor says. "It has been clear since the moment you arrived that the three of you would not be separated."

"Well, he can make an exception for you and Jane, then," Sylvie says.

Thor shakes his head solemnly. "He would much rather I marry a woman of Asgardian descent, or Vanir or somebody with status within the Nine Realms. He thinks my relationship with Jane is..." He ponders for a moment how best to phrase this. "Not a wise use of my time."

"Oh." Sylvie frowns. "Well, that sucks."

"It does," Thor agrees, "but this is the unfortunate reality of being heir to the throne." He grimaces at his words, glancing at Loki almost subconsciously.

Both to assure his brother that he doesn't mind the reminder and to assure him that he is absolutely worthy of this role, Loki says, "But we'll sleep well knowing that Asgard is in such wonderful hands."

Thor smiles at that, and Loki smiles back. For possibly the first time in his life, Loki can honestly, genuinely tell his brother that he's proud of him, that he'll be a good king, and not feel even an ounce of jealousy over it. He doesn't want the throne. He never wanted the throne, really. He just wanted to be seen, to be loved, and right now, sitting amongst his new group of friends, he feels he's finally gotten just that.

"When do you become king, anyway?" Sylvie asks. "How does that work?"

"My coronation had been scheduled for last year," Thor tells her. "Due to... extenuating circumstances, it didn't happen – which, I'll admit, was likely for the best. I certainly wasn't ready then. I don't know that I'm ready now."

"You'd be a fine king," Loki assures him. "And you'll have Father to help guide you."

But Thor shakes his head. "I'd rather wait at least a few more years," he tells his brother. "I'll continue to learn from our father, and one day, when I feel I'm ready, we'll begin discussing it again."

"What if this is something you never feel like you're ready for?" Loki asks. "What if you only thought you were ready the last time because you weren't ready?"

Thor furrows his brows. "I don't follow."

"There's always going to be more to learn, right?" Loki says. "So you're never going to know everything. So what if you never feel ready because you'll never know everything you need to know? And then one day – hopefully very far in the future – our father dies, and you have no choice but to take the throne, and you don't have him to guide you, and you have to navigate it alone?"

Thor frowns, his brow creasing with thought. "I suppose..." He looks at his brother thoughtfully. "You may have a point," he admits. "I'll remember that when I talk to Father. But for now, I feel my focus must lie on the chaos throughout the Nine Realms."

"And Jane," Sylvie adds.

Thor chuckles. "And Jane," he agrees.

"You'll tell us how seeing Jane again goes, I presume," Loki says.

"Oh, of course," Thor says.

"And you'll give us the chance to meet her?" Sylvie asks.

"If it goes well, then of course," Thor assures her. "I'll arrange a day for us all to visit Midgard together."

Loki raises a brow. "And you think she'll take kindly to my presence?"

Thor thinks about that for a few moments, then looks at Sylvie specifically. "I'll arrange a day for us to visit Midgard together."

Loki's about to make a comment to Mobius about how they'll be stuck together while Thor's gone (though he assumes Mobius will have the option of going with them), but he pauses when he sees his friend. It's not that he's doing anything weird. He's really not. He's just sitting there and eating his food. But he's sitting there and eating his breakfast quietly, and that's weird.

Mobius must notice him looking, because he gives him a smile and a small wave with his fork, the best he can do with his mouth full.

"You've been awfully quiet," Loki remarks.

Mobius shrugs. "Just eatin' my breakfast."

"But you're eating your breakfast very quietly," Loki says.

Again, Mobius shrugs. "I'm just interested to see where this goes."

Loki raises a brow. Whatever that means.

Thor looks at him curiously. "Do you know something about the future that we do not?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," Mobius says. "I know a lot about the future."

"You know more about Jane than you'll say," Thor recalls. "Is that why you've been so quiet?"

"'Course not," Mobius says. "I've already told you she loves you and she misses you. What more do you need to know?"

Thor eyes him suspiciously.

Loki decides to step in, patting his friend on the back as he tells his brother, "Mobius isn't here to tell you the future. Don't hound him for answers you're going to get when you see her, anyway."

Thor seems reluctant to agree, but he nods as though he does – only to ask immediately after, "Do you know something about the throne that I should know?"

Mobius rolls his eyes goodnaturedly. "What I know about Asgard's future doesn't matter because it's not Asgard's future anymore. I'm going to give you all the heads up you need to avoid the big bads that I know are coming, and the rest of it is up to you."

Thor frowns, but reluctantly, he nods once more. "Can I ask one more question, out of curiosity only?"

Mobius gestures for him to do it. "Go ahead."

"When do I become king?" Thor asks. "In the old future."

Mobius sucks in a breath between his teeth. "You kind of... don't?"

Thor furrows his brows. "What do you mean?"

"He doesn't die, though," Loki says, confused. "Not before I do, and our parents died before me, so how...?"

Mobius shakes his head. "It's a whole thing," he says. To Thor, he says, "You do what's best for Asgard. That's all you have to know."

"Do our parents die soon?" Sylvie asks quickly. "I just got them back. I'm not going to lose them again, am I?"

Mobius sighs. "It's a whole thing," he says again. "I'll give you guys plenty of heads up, and you can stop everything bad from happening before it happens."

"Then give us that heads up now," Sylvie says. "Before something happens."

"I'm going to tell you before anything happens," Mobius insists. "I'm just not going to tell you now about what might happen five years from now."

Sylvie scoffs. "Why not?"

"Because it doesn't make sense to," Mobius says.

Loki sighs. He can already feel this starting to go downhill. He should cut in before somebody ends up storming off and ruining the rest of the day.

He puts a hand on Mobius's shoulder. "I understand that you're trying to help," he says, "but I think it might help more if you tell us what we need to know now, just so we have it in the back of our mind – and then if you want to remind us again when something is about to happen, we can have the best of both worlds."

"It won't work like that," Mobius insists.

"Why wouldn't it?" Loki asks.

"Because every little thing anyone does differently is going to change everything," Mobius tells him. "So if we can keep everything kind of close to the Sacred Timeline for a few years, I can tell you everything you need to know when you need to know it to keep everybody alive.

"But if I tell you everything now, you're going to start doing things differently. You're going to try to change the future too soon, and then we won't be able to predict anything, and that's not going to help any of us."

Loki's silent as he processes that. It makes sense, in a way. If they change everything now, they won't have the same situations that exist on the Sacred Timeline for Mobius to warn them about. There's some sort of logic there. He's just not sure he agrees.

"What if we don't do anything vastly different?" Loki asks, a compromise of sorts.

"You're going to," Mobius says.

"But what if we don't?"

"You're going to," Mobius insists. "Do you think you're going to be able to live your life normally if I tell you exactly when, how, and why Thanos snaps your neck?"

Sylvie's eyes go wide. "What?"

"What are you talking about?" Thor asks quickly.

Mobius ignores them, his gaze firmly on Loki's face, and he does his best to suppress any kind of reaction to the name. He certainly wasn't expecting him to go there – especially in front of Sylvie and Thor.– but he's not going to back down now that he has.

"I already know why Thanos kills me," Loki says evenly. "I know what I've done."

"No, you don't, and that's the point," Mobius insists. "I didn't show you everything you've ever done. I wasn't going to do that to you all at once."

Loki scoffs. "You told me I killed my mother and then showed me my own prophesied death," he reminds him, an icy chill to his voice. "Don't pretend you were worried about my feelings."

"You did what?" Thor asks, balking at his brother – as if Loki's supposed future actions are any judgment on his character, which they are not.

Mobius lolls his head back in exasperation. "Can we not do this right now?"

"Do what?" Loki asks. "What are we doing? We're not doing anything. We're just talking."

Mobius just groans, running his hands down his face.

"I'm sorry," Sylvie says, "can we go back to the part where Loki kills our mother?"

"Loki does not kill your mother," Mobius says. "It's a lot more complicated than that, and it doesn't even matter because it didn't even happen in his timeline – and it's not going to happen in this timeline, either."

"How can we know that?" Sylvie asks.

"Because it's not," Mobius says, his patience running increasingly low. "Okay? It's not going to happen. So can we please–"

"I don't think it's fair that you know what's supposed to happen and we don't," Sylvie says. "If my parents are going to die, I want to know when and how, and I want to stop it."

"And you're going to stop it," Mobius says. "I'm going to tell you what you need to know, but I'm telling you, it's not going to work the same if I tell you now."

Sylvie clenches her jaw. "You're not at the TVA anymore, Mobius," she snaps. "You don't get to control everything anymore. You don't have the right to–"

"Fine!" Mobius slams his hands against the table and stands up. "I will go back to the TVA, I will go through the files, I will make you a list of every single thing that happens over the next five years with dates and explanations and every little detail, and then I'm done with it. It's in your hands."

Loki sighs. "Mobius–"

"I'll see you when I'm done."

And then Mobius is walking away, and it feels like last night all over again, and he still doesn't know what to do or whether he should go after him or when he should go after him or even if he can go after him later because he's probably going to take their only TemPad back to the TVA and fuck.

He hits his head against the table. What is happening to them? This was supposed to be easy. They were supposed to make a cute little home in Asgard where everyone could get along and live happily ever after. Now he almost feels like things are worse than they were for those few hours they were all in the Void together.

"This is ridiculous," Sylvie mutters under her breath.

Loki's inclined to agree. All they want is to know what Mobius knows. He really doesn't feel like they're asking too much.

Thor sighs. "I am going to try to talk to him," he says.

"He barely knows you," Loki mumbles. He rests his forehead on his arms, a much more comfortable way to sit with his head on the table. "He's not gonna want to talk to you."

"Probably not," Thor admits, "but I'm hoping that not knowing each other well will work in my favor."

Loki rolls his eyes and gestures with his hand for Thor to go. He doesn't even care at this point.

So Thor leaves, and then there are two.

Loki finally raises his head, brushing his hair out of his face and slumping his shoulders. He misses that first day or two when it looked like everything was going to go perfectly. Can they go back to that?

"I'm not wrong, am I?" Sylvie asks. Loki suspects she's already certain that she's not, whether he agrees or not.

"I don't know," Loki says. He feels like he doesn't know much of anything right now.

"He shouldn't have the right to keep this from us," she adds. "We deserve to know how the people we love are supposed to die."

"We do," Loki agrees. "I agree there. We do deserve to know."

"Then you agree," she says. "You think this is stupid and he should tell us."

"I understand why he doesn't want to," Loki says. "He can't help us if we change everything leading up to what he knows."

"So what?" Sylvie asks. "If we know how everything goes wrong, we can stop it from going wrong. We don't need him to help us. We can help ourselves. We just need to know what to expect."

Loki lets out a long breath and props his head up on his hand, manners be damned. "I know," he says flatly. "But he was doing what he thinks is right."

"He was doing what the TVA told him is right," Sylvie counters. "What's the point of freedom if he's still pushing us to follow the Sacred Timeline?"

"I don't know," Loki mumbles. Mobius is doing what he thinks is right. That's what he has to hold onto. Mobius is doing what he thinks is right; Sylvie is doing what she thinks is right; everyone is doing what they think is right.

The subjectivity of morality is really starting to piss him off.

Sylvie lets out a long breath, and with it, her irritation fades. "What should we do now?"

"I don't know," Loki admits.

"We could go for a walk," she suggests.

"We could do that," Loki agrees. They seem to be taking a lot of walks, but then, he rather likes walks – through Asgard, at least; not walking through apocalypses like Lamentis-1. Maybe that's why Sylvie likes walking, too. Asgard is much nicer than the places she's been to of late.

So they get up and head out. Loki's not quite sure where he plans to take her today, but maybe he won't take her anywhere. Maybe he'll just lead her through the realm and let her see what it's like when they're not in the palace or the woods.

"How long do you think it's going to take for Mobius to finish?'' Sylvie asks.

"I guess it depends on whether he's doing it here or at the TVA," Loki says. "If he's doing it in the TVA, he could be back in five minutes."

"Then should we wait for him?" Sylvie asks.

Loki thinks about that for a few moments, then shakes his head. "If he wanted us to wait, he would've said something." He could be back in a few minutes, but he won't be. Loki's fairly certain about that.

"Should we wait for Thor?" Sylvie asks.

"Probably not," Loki says. "I imagine he has better places to be."

"Probably," she admits. "Alright. Lead the way?"

"Gladly."