"Just like I thought….you picked your Lokis over me."
Ravonna was still. She looked at her hands.
"Ravonna, you're-"
"I thought it was for all time, always". She looked up at him, lip quivering slightly. Mobius looked at the whiskey bottles on the shelves. Her office was tidy, but comfortable. He had spent more hours here than he would ever be able to remember…
"It was- it is." She had been his best friend since….when?
"No." She frowned.
"No, what?" He sighed. He was getting frustrated. First, Loki, going behind his back, never trusting a word out of his mouth, siding with the Variant, betraying him. Now Ravonna? She had always been there, on his side, down for a drink and a laugh.
"Mobius, you don't understand. This wasn't the first time…" Her voice was softer.
He waited.
"I've reset you, okay? At least four times before this. And I thought, maybe if I just...if I just reset you, I could fix it…"
"You reset me?"
He sat down on the steps, hard. It suddenly hurt to breathe. That's why I can't...remember anything. There's really nothing to me...is there?
Ravonna's mouth hardened into a thin line. She picked up a remote.
"I'll show you."
Clicking the remote, a holographic screen appeared before him. Just like the one he had used to show Loki the future, to show Loki his death. Mobius sat up straighter. Maybe this was all one big misunderstanding.
There was a figure on the screen- tall, Black, strong. He was wearing horns- Loki horns. And before him sat Mobius himself. They were both smiling…
Holding hands.
Mobius's jaw clenched.
"This was the first time," Ravonna spat.
Next there was a young child...black hair, long. The Mobius on the screen was giving him a soda can. An alligator lay on the ground between them. The child was crying. Mobius reached out a hand.
"The empathy you have for them...You always cared so much. You always loved them one way or another."
The next one. One who looked more like his Loki, soft hair, a suit...On screen, he reached out to touch Mobius's cheek. Mobius leaned back against the bookshelf, grinning.
"Enough". Mobius stood up, although his legs were shaking. He ignored the sick feeling in his stomach, the heavy feeling in his eyes. He thought of the Loki he stuck in the memory with Sif, the anger that had driven his actions. I'm so sorry.
"I am just so tired of it, Mobius."
"I get it. We're all variants, okay? And I've messed up in the past. But I'm really with you this time." The lie was his only way out. Ravonna arched an eyebrow, but started to smile.
"Honest, Loki? For all time?"
"Always". Because it had always been Loki.