Loki sees Thor coming and fights every fibre of his body as his mind screams for him to run. The younger Loki vanishes into the hovel, hiding himself and the alligator behind a curtain that isn't really there. Ayshi quickly places a chair in front of it to try to hide them a little more.

Iris takes Loki's arm, "If we're going to face him, we're doing it together."

Hunter has armed herself with improvised weapons and stands just far enough down the ridge to give Thor a landing spot and still guard their home. Ayshi stands a little ways behind her off her shoulder with Tam opposite, the three of them forming a wall in front of Loki and Iris.

Loki trembles as they wait, his eyes fixed on the sky, "I don't think I can do this."

Iris lets his arm drop and places their arm around Loki, their hand resting on his back, "We're not going to let him hurt you."

"You won't be able to stop him."

Hunter taps a large metal pipe against her open palm, "Well we're going to give him a hell of a fight, if it comes to that."

They all stare at the sky, waiting for Thor to make his landing.

"Maybe I should hide. Like the others," Loki says.

"Please don't," Ayshi answers, "We don't want him to think we've stolen you, or that he has to tear things apart to find you. It would only make him angry."

"I know. And I understand why they're hiding. I just..." Loki's voice trails off.

Tam looks over their shoulder to face him, "You're more brave than you give yourself credit. And we aren't leaving you."

"And you can bet Mobius and Cyd are driving as fast as that car will allow to get here, too," Iris says. "There's no way Cyd wouldn't try to get back here in time to fight back, if that's what we need to do."

They all turn their attention forward as Thor grows close enough to see his face. He slams down in front of them. Tam and Ayshi step closer together. Iris steps forward and moves Loki behind them, holding his hand.

"Loki? Is it really you?" Loki tries to answer, but can't. "Speak!" Loki shakes his head.

"He doesn't owe you his words," Tam says.

"He's my brother. How dare you tell me I can't speak to him?"

"I didn't tell you not to speak to him," Tam answers, their voice calm and steady, "I said you aren't owed an answer."

"And who are you to talk to me this way?"

"I'm his family, too," Tam replies.

Thor glances between the determined faces in front of him and scoffs, "Loki isn't capable of forming this kind of family. At least not the Loki I knew."

"Then maybe this isn't the Loki you knew," Hunter says. "How much do you know about the way time works?"

"The other two tried to explain this Time Variance Authority and it made little sense. I see no use in you trying to do the same. My purpose here is my brother. Not any of you. They told me this Loki is the one who attempted to rule Midgard. I have little sympathy for that man."

"Then you're not seeing him," Ayshi says. "We won't let you hurt him."

Thor laughs, "And what would you do to stop me, were I to try?"

"Anything in our power," Ayshi answers, their voice serious. "I know we aren't much. But we care about him and you're not touching him."

"And do you really want to fight us?" Hunter asks, "There's only one of us who has any kind of weapon. You'd be mowing down people who just want to protect someone they call family. Is that really what heroes do where you're from?"

Thor glares at her, "Do not tell me what heroes are. You look like the cowards who dragged me from a fight I won and stole my victory over Thanos. I will not listen to criticism from someone like you."

"Then how about from us?" Tam says. "Will you take criticism from a group of people just trying to keep our own brother safe?"

"Your own brother? What kind of game is this?" Thor asks.

"It's not a damn game at all!" Ayshi shouts, frustrated, "Don't you see that? We're deadly serious. Every last one of us is willing to throw ourselves at you and try to pummel you with every ounce of strength we have, if that's what it takes to stop you from hurting him. Don't you dare tell us this is a game when we all have survived this Void as a family, struggled to find a way to live in this place, and depended on each other to stay safe together! You have no idea what brought us here or what we've lost."

Tam reaches over and rests their hand on Ayshi's arm, "Ayshi...please. We can't attract Alioth."

Ayshi wipes their eyes, "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Tam says, "It's not coming yet. And I think we all want to yell."

"Even me," Iris says, their voice still soft, "And you know how I feel about loud things."

"So," Hunter says, "How about you tell us if you're a threat to our Loki before we decide we have to take some drastic measures?"

"I don't think I need to justify seeing my own brother."

"No, you do," Hunter replies, "I know enough of your history to know there are some Thors who would seek justice against Loki and that justice would be brutal. I know there are some Thors who just want to hold Loki with the relief that he's alive and will be eager to rebuild on that foundation alone. So where along that spectrum are you?"

The squealing and clanking of the car driving far too fast over horribly uneven terrain interrupts the conversation as the struggling engine hurdles the rattling station wagon over the ridge.

Thor begins twirling Stormbreaker.

"Don't you dare lift a finger against Cyd and Mobius," Hunter says.

Thor shakes his head, "If they're a threat to me-"

"They're not a threat to you if you're not a threat to Loki," Iris says. "That's what makes the difference. And you do not want to cross Cyd."

Thor stops swinging Stormbreaker and stares at the five people in front of him, "Excuse me? The tiny man who spoke to me in the ruins?"

"Yes," Tam answers, "And if you touch him, we will all fight you."

Loki speaks for the first time, his voice shaking and quiet, "Thor, there will be no forgiveness in my heart if you hurt my family. And if you lift a finger against Cyd..."

Thor stares at Loki, stunned this is the first thing he hears in Loki's voice, "What?" he asks, confused.

The car hasn't fully stopped when Cyd flings open the door and leaps out of the vehicle, storming toward Thor, "I swear on everything I am, if you've laid a finger on him, I'll scratch and bite and scream like you've never seen before," he says, his voice sharp and full of a protective fury far greater than his stature. Mobius turns off the car and hurries after Cyd.

"And by what authority do you threaten me?" Thor asks.

Mobius opens his mouth to speak, but Cyd starts talking first, "By the authority I've given myself. I'm not kidding, either. I'll fight god for him." Cyd reaches Thor and stands practically toe-to-toe with him in front of Hunter, his eyes fierce as he looks up at the much taller man.

Thor shakes his head, "I haven't hurt him, though I almost want to see you fight."

There is nothing but sheer determination in Cyd's voice, "If you dare even flinch wrong toward the one I love, you will." Cyd's face crumples, "And damnit, Thor, I didn't want to say that for the first time in front of anyone but him." He looks toward Loki, meeting his eyes, "I'm so sorry. That was meant to be something special, just for you."

Mobius rests his hand on Cyd's shoulder, "Go on. Talk to him back at the house. We'll stay here and keep you both safe."

Cyd nods and walks timidly to Loki, Iris stepping a little farther away so Cyd can talk to him with a sliver of privacy, "Really...I wanted to tell you when it was just the two of us."

Loki takes both of Cyd's hands and leans in to gently kiss his cheek, whispering in his ear, "I understand. But it does nothing to cheapen it that you said it to show just what you're willing to do for my sake. It's still a beautiful thing to hear. And I love you, too." Cyd pulls Loki's arms around his waist and snuggles against him, Loki gently holding him as Cyd rests his head against Loki's chest.

Mobius steps beside Hunter as Ayshi slips away to check on the younger Loki in his hiding place in the hovel.

"So," Mobius says, "Are you a Thor we can trust or a Thor that's going to try to break the family we've managed to build?"

Thor surveys the people in front of him, "I...I don't know."

"Well how about you tell us a little more about yourself and then we'll talk?" Mobius says.

"Perhaps."

"There's no perhaps," Hunter says, "Because you're going to sit down with us right now and we're going to have this talk. I'm not giving you any other option."

"And if I refuse?"

"I'll think of something," she answers.

Thor slowly lowers himself to the ground as Cyd and Loki start walking back to the shack, "What about them? And the other one?"

"Let them have some time to talk," Iris says.

"Yeah," Mobius adds, "Cyd told me that saying he loved Loki was something really precious to him. He didn't want anyone else to hear it that first time- heck, he wouldn't even use it in the car when we were talking about them. So they're going to need some time away."

"And-" Thor starts.

"Ayshi has their own someone to check on," Iris answers.

"Who?"

"That's not something we're going to talk about yet," Hunter replies.

"Why not?"

"Because that's not what we're going to talk about yet," Hunter reiterates.

Thor looks frustrated, but realizes he's going to have to deal with these people before he gets to talk to Loki, "Alright. Then what are we going to talk about?"

"Let's start with names," Mobius says, "You've met Cyd and me."

"And Ayshi is the other person who walked away?" Thor asks.

"Yes," Iris answers, "My name is Iris. I used to be an archivist in the TVA. Before that, I was on Earth and was stolen from the timeline as well. We're variants, just like you. And we, too, had our victory snatched from us."

"Your victory?"

"We'll tell you more about us later," Iris says. "This moment isn't about us, though."

"I'm Hunter. I was a Minuteman at the TVA. I don't know who I was before. But I know I had a good life."

Thor turns to Mobius, "And you?"

"I don't know, either."

"And who are you?" Thor asks Tam.

"Some days, I'm Tam. But today...I'm Miriam. Because today is the day for difficult and brave things."

Mobius turns to Thor, "Now it's your turn. You told us about killing Thanos. Which means you saw Loki die on the ship, didn't you?"

Thor sighs and nods, "I did. He tried to defeat Thanos himself and failed. We had just begun to learn about one another again. To find one another. I never thought I would see Loki fighting beside me again not long before and then..." Thor's voice trails off as he looks toward the shelter, "Then we had our moment. We stood beside each other to save our people and bring an end to Hela and bring about Ragnarok. When I realized he had survived the destruction of Asgard, I felt immense relief. Hesitance to trust him, yes. Betrayal is in his nature. But I could not help but miss him and want him by my side, especially as I took the throne of Asgard. He no longer had reservations about my capacity to rule and I felt as though I would have him as my advisor for many years to come. And then to watch him die, his neck snapped, his body tossed aside like a discarded plaything..."

"If we let you speak to him," Miriam says, "and if he wants to speak to you, will you hurt him?"

"Tell me about who he is before I can answer."

Mobius nods, "That seems fair."

"It also feels a little wrong to tell his story for him," Iris says.

"I know," Mobius replies, "So we're not going to tell everything. Just enough to share who he is to us."

Hunter nods, "So instead of the flow of time as it should have been, Loki picked up the Tesseract when it was dropped as you were taking him from Stark Tower after the Battle of New York. He sought to flee, to find another way to rule. But the TVA couldn't let him branch off the timeline. I took him in and he was stripped of everything but his name and taken before Judge Renslayer. He should have been pruned then- touched with the orange rod. We called that pruning someone."

"But I stepped in," Mobius says, "We were chasing another Loki variant who was trying to take down the TVA. We needed our Loki's help to do that. We showed him some of his future. Your mom's death was one of those scenes. The point of it was to get him to realize that his whole life, as it was supposed to happen, brought everybody pain and let other people become better versions of themselves, but he wasn't really very significant. Needless to say, that interrogation didn't quite to as expected. He got loose, discovered that Infinity Stones are useless at the TVA, and then came back to the Time Theatre to see some other scenes of his life. I don't know what all he watched, but he later told me he saw how much he was loved and also how his death was meaningless. Nothing made a difference. So he stayed with us to help us find the other variant. There were some screw-ups. It was rocky. But eventually, he made the big breakthrough in our case and helped us find who we were looking for. But things went wrong and he made the choice to follow her."

"Her? I thought you said this was another sort of Loki?" Thor asks.

"Yeah. Wasn't he ever she with you?" Iris asks.

"Yes, but more often Loki was he. I didn't know there would be a time or place this would be different."

Iris nods, "He seems most comfortable in the form in which he rests now- or perhaps just most used to it. But this other variant was most often in another form. And her name is Sylvie."

Miriam picks up the story, "We don't entirely know the story of the two of them together, but they nearly died on a moon called Lamentis. When they were brought back to the TVA, Mobius once again interrogated him. Our friend, Judith, was listening and brought word back to us. Loki was worried about Sylvie and revealed to Mobius, to all of us, for the first time, that all of us working at the TVA are variants."

"Take a step back," Iris says, "And let's add that the way we came to know Loki was that Cyd insisted on bringing him supper during his first day at the TVA, and later that night, all of us sneaked to his room to talk to the very first variant we'd ever met. They weren't usually allowed to live. And yet here he was, and we were curious. Not knowing what we were at the time, he was an anomaly and we wanted to ask questions. It was the start of our friendship."

Mobius nods, "Yeah, and it wasn't something that was supposed to happen, either, but I'm glad it did. I'm a little murky on what happened next once he told me what we all are. I found proof we really were all variants and believed him. I came to find him and told him he could be a good person. I thought that meant a lot. And after, I got pruned and sent here. Found myself the car. Ran from Alioth."

Hunter picks up the story, "Sylvie and Loki were taken to meet the Timekeepers- the people we thought were the leaders of the TVA. But they weren't. They were androids. After one hell of a fight, they found that out and then Loki was pruned. Sylvie got the upper hand on Judge Renslayer. I was taken to a containment chamber and I don't know what happened next."

"I picked up Sylvie when she ended up here," Mobius says, "And then we met up with him. He won't talk much about what happened next, but they got past Alioth, found this place called the Citadel, she sent him back and killed the guy who was really behind the TVA, and all hell broke loose."

"Everyone at the TVA was reset, memories wiped," Iris says, "Except a few of us. Hunter, Mobius, and the archivists. Loki needed us and we were there for him. But...we knew too much. We'd figured out who we were before the TVA took us. And why we were taken."

It is Miriam's turn, "We'd stood against torture and tyranny and won. We weren't supposed to. History was supposed to correct for this, but we survived over and over again. And our beloved Jemmi reclaimed her name from before they wiped all of us clean of our memories of our previous lives. She was Judith. She took a stand against the TVA and died for it. The next morning, I cleaned her blood from the floor of the archive."

"When I got to the archive," Mobius continues, "I helped finish the cleanup and then I tried to take care of Iris, Ayshi, Miriam, Cyd, and Loki as they grieved together. Work could wait. And that's when I knew this was my family. We realized that the TVA wasn't going to just let what Judith did slide. They'd figure out the other archivists knew their stories, too. So we hatched a plan."

"And when the time came," Hunter says, "We gathered all the things we'd smuggled together throughout our preparation and we pruned each other and ourselves so we could come here- it's where the TVA can't follow us. We somehow managed to survive Alioth and picked up a couple of other friends on the way."

"Oh? What kind of other friends?" Thor asks.

"That's where things are a little messy," Mobius adds, "Because they're both Loki variants, too, just like Sylvie. Except not."

"One's an older child and one's an alligator," Iris explains, "And the child's nexus event, the thing that brought him to the TVA, was killing you. The alligator ate the wrong neighbour's cat. We don't exactly understand that one...or why he's an alligator. But Loki-the-younger understands what Loki-the-alligator is saying, so we trust that he's translating right. Ayshi has started to understand him, too. The three of them are close and Ayshi's very protective of them."

"We've been living here ever since," Miriam replies, "And last night, Loki figured out it was you on the back of Alioth."

"You all care about my brother?" Thor asks.

"Yes," Hunter says, "We've been surviving here together and even though I didn't start off nearly as close to him as Mobius, or maybe even the archivists, when your lives depend on each other, you get that way pretty quickly."

"And this was why you were all willing to die to protect him?"

"Exactly," answers Miriam, "And you saw the look on Cyd's face when he got here."

Thor's eyes once again return to the hovel, "I did. Does he love Cyd as well?"

"Unquestionably," Miriam answers.

"I don't have any doubt in my mind," Iris confirms.

"Me neither," adds Mobius.

"Your brother isn't a monster," Hunter says, "He's not even the same man who rode into New York ready to conquer it. He's just...him. He's sensitive, a little rash, impulsive, kind, and insecure. And we all want to see him find himself. Cyd's brought him a little closer to being happy. It's pretty incredible to watch."

Mobius smiles, "He's pretty brilliant, too. Figured out where Sylvie was hiding and how- something I'd missed. Ruined a perfectly good salad trying to explain it to me, though. He got so excited when we proved him right. It was cute."

"That sounds more like the Loki of our youth than the man I've seen so many years since."

"Yeah, well, discovering all your ambition just got you killed and lost you your whole family will do that to somebody. Same as discovering the whole Infinity Stone saga was just worthless because since there's no magic at the TVA, they're just shiny rocks to us. The Tesseract was only useful as a nightlight," Mobius says.

Thor sighs, taking Stormbreaker from where he has it resting across his lap and setting it aside, "Then I truly cannot know this version of my brother."

"No, you can't. Not unless you can start over with him," Hunter says.

"Are you willing to do that?" Miriam asks, "Are you willing to set aside everything of him that's hurt you, and everything that happened after New York, which this Loki didn't experience, and just let him show you who he is now?"

"I'll have to, won't I?" Thor asks.

"Yes," Iris answers, "Because we're not going to let you talk to him if you don't. It would only hurt him, especially if you brought up things he didn't ever do because he was taken from his timeline before they happened to him."

Thor nods, "I understand. And I promise you to do what I can to hear who he has become." He bows his head to each of his companions in turn, "And I will do the same when I meet the younger version of himself. I cannot know what led to my death by his hands, nor will I hold it against him. I am not the man he knew."

Miriam nods, "Then you will join us for lunch. But I'm going to talk to them first. We have to do this gently and we have to do this right. He's terrified you're going to hurt him."

"Well I certainly did nothing to disprove that in New York."

"Exactly," she continues, "So let us lead. Then let him lead." Miriam stands and stretches, "And so...let the work begin. And lunch. I need to start cooking."

Iris, Hunter, Mobius, and Thor get up as well. Iris waves to them and walks with Miriam to the shack.

"You all live in that small thing?" Thor asks.

"And the car, sometimes," Mobius answers, "But yeah, it's home. We cook outside, mostly, and we keep watch in pairs when everyone else sleeps. We just try to make some kind of life out of where we are, you know?" Thor nods. "Come on- let's take a walk. We can tell you what our days are like here." Thor nods again as Hunter and Mobius walk with him toward the car. Thor sets Stormbreaker on the passenger seat where he is assured it will be safe. He does not want to frighten his brother. There is too much at stake and he knows being cautious is the only chance he has at finding out who Loki has become and if he can love his little brother as he once did when they were much different people. What he does know is that the familiar pang of longing for their relationship has returned and there is a large part of him that wants to believe in everything he has been told, even if he also is wary and something in him tells him that no matter how much he wants to believe in Loki, betrayal will always lurk beneath the surface, both malice and mischief mixed in equal parts in Loki's blood.