Chapter 10
"Yelena?" Loki repeated the name a few times, eventually giving in and sitting down at the table with Mobius.
"Can we get back to you now?" Mobius motioned to the file and placed his gadget on the table next to him.
Loki stared at the wall, wondering where he had heard the name before.
"Okay," Mobius continued, "So you have quite a long history and we don't have to repeat any of it, but I do have to inform you of the future that you won't have."
"Who is she?" Loki asked, out of the blue. "Idunn, Yelena whatever. Why did the agent call her Infinity?"
Mobius sighed, "I'm sorry you two couldn't get to know each other better, but it doesn't matter because you'll both be terminated soon. If you'll just let me explain why then you won't care. I have videos to show you and everything." He sounded excited.
"I don't want to be terminated," Loki snarled, "I don't want her to be terminated."
"Well too bad, you can't get what you want," Mobius moaned. "Not everyone gets what they want. You deflected from your original timeline, therefore you aren't allowed to continue forth."
"What the hell does that mean?" Loki spat. "My original timeline?"
"Well, you weren't supposed to escape with the tesseract," Mobius answered, "You were supposed to go back to Asgard…"
"Says who?" Loki challenged.
"The timekeepers," Mobius justified as if it was the most obvious fact.
Loki sighed and buried his face in his hands, "Who the hell are they?"
"They are the keepers of the sacred timeline."
"It sounds like a really preposterous cult," Loki specified.
"I don't know what that means," Mobius muttered.
"What do you mean I deviated from my original sacred timeline? How did I do such a thing? I was going to Asgard in restraints and then the tesseract came to me and I did what I would always do, I escaped."
"Well, you weren't supposed to do that."
"Says who?" Loki repeated, frustrated, "Right, the sacred timekeepers. I don't understand it."
"Well, you were supposed to go to Asgard and continue on that timeline. The tesseract wasn't supposed to get to you."
"How did it get to me then?" Loki sat low in his chair, his arms crossed.
"Well," Mobius checked the file, "The time heist hit a bit of an obstacle and they had to regroup, but that deviation caused the tesseract to get to you, which took you off your timeline."
"Time heist?" Loki questioned, his interest piqued.
"Uhm," Mobius scanned through a few pages, "It looks like the Avengers were trying to fix what Thanos did or will do in 2018, hopping through time to get all the stones and fix the snap."
"The Avengers?" Loki accused.
"Yeah, but this is a sacred timeline-approved mission. They were/are supposed to do it, but you weren't supposed to escape. Nothing in 2012 was supposed to change as drastic as you escaping."
"The Avengers?" Loki repeated. "So it's their fault, they should be held accountable."
"It doesn't work that way," Mobius tilted his head side to side, searching for a way to explain, "As I said, what they did is supposed to happen. But the original timeline where they time traveled from, you were already dead, but now here you are. You had veered off that timeline, creating a branch in the sacred timeline."
"Is or was? Are or were? Did or will do?" Loki probed. "Has it happened or not?"
"Again, it's tricky," Mobius smiled, "Is, was, will, it's all moot, since it will always happen, the sacred timeline is one entity, No matter what, it will always happen the same way. Has to."
"Except it didn't, because I'm here and according to your precious timeline, I'm supposed to die later," Loki uttered, "Whatever later then means."
"Which is exactly why we will be terminating you. This version of you, the original is still on the sacred timeline, living his life as he is supposed to, till he too meets his end."
"How do I inevitably die in this original timeline?" Loki asked slowly.
"Thanos kills you," Mobius had to turn a few pages to check.
When Loki didn't respond, Mobius turned back some pages and read the highlights.
"When you return to Asgard, you go to prison, you send dark elves to Thor, but they end up killing your mother, you get out of prison, you find out you have a sister who's been banished to hell, and then Asgard is destroyed, known as Ragnarok, your people's apocalypse. And after all, that, after you and Thor saved your people together, Thanos kills you while you try to kill him."
Loki huffed, taking in the information while thinking of a million questions.
"And that is how things have to happen," Mobius added, "This, here, is just temporary."
"Where does," Loki struggled to say the new name, "Yelena belong in your sacred timeline?"
Mobius sighed and picked up his gadget, scanning through some information.
"I don't know, man," Mobius struggled, "according to this, she doesn't have a place in the sacred timeline."