A/N (12:30 AM PST on day of post [November 20, 2015]): LAST PART HERE WE GO. Anyway I just wanted to ramble a little. I've never been part of the Bang and managed to join on August 1st, and wrote 15K of this guy by August 28th - whoo! Of course, the remaining 17K would come over the next three months... And I didn't write anything in September because I was really stressed over life things. Hahaha. I think I was at 22K with two weeks to go, then wrote about 6K last week, and ended up going over my estimate by about 2K... and I have to be up in two hours to start a multi-hour trek on public transit to a filmshoot I'm in...

BUT AT LEAST THIS IS DONE. BE KIND TO ME, MY LOVELIES.

Oh! Also, I know this is listed as the 2nd part in a series, but it can be read as a stand-alone or out-of-order. If you're already at this chapter you either read the first installment or you didn't - can't change it now! Bahaha~ But really, either way is fine. Two different stories from completely different perspectives, but people who read one will notice hints in the other if/when they read the other, and vice versa. :3 Thank you for reading this, at any rate, and I hope to hear from you in the comments section!

I LOVE TO DIALOGUE ABOUT STORIES! TOTALLY HIT ME UP, DARLINGS! :D HAPPY FROSTIRON BANG 2015!

Growing accustomed to a universe which shares so many similarities with his own is hard for Loki. Hela offers him glimpses into the past, so he might better understand what his self of this era has gone through. It is disconcerting, to say the least. Here, he had outed himself as a sorcerer from early on; Frigga had been accepting, but she was only one person amidst a tide of ridicule. Loki knew now that his other life had been better – he and Thor had mended their differences in order to work together. Here, there was a bitterness steeped in every past action that made Loki want to cringe.

And yet, none of this prepared him for the turn his life took when he accompanied Thor on his mission of warmongering, after the canceled coronation. It had never happened in Loki's other life, so for it to happen now made it all the more horrible.

Had he been a Frost Giant; his other self, his true self? Had Odin never told him, like he had, here? It made the bile rise in Loki's throat, made him a little mad, made him forget why he was here. Loki let go at the Bifrost, let himself drift, let himself obsess over if that was what Esmid had meant, when he said he and Loki were alike.

In the void, Hela offered to reach out to him, but he turned away from her. She let him go.

Loki had been living this other life for some duration of time. Hela had taken the physical form of a young child, but age was meaningless to her anyway. She likely did it for her own twisted sense of amusement; not that Loki would fault her for that. He mused over this, as he drifted. He could not approach Tony before the right time; but when that was, he would never know. He did not know what year it was on Midgard compared to Asgard, as time passed far too differently. There were ways to find out, but given the temperamental nature of time travel spells, Loki was hesitant to inadvertently influence anything that should not be influenced.

So, he left Midgard alone; Earth, he recalled, as Tony had insisted so many times.

In the horrible exhilaration of discovering his true heritage for the first time in two lifetimes, Loki had forgotten Tony on Midgard. In his madness, Loki suddenly craved him; his voice, his face, his company. Loki wanted a Tony that had not been taken from him by Esmid's cold hand – one he could defend from such a fate. One he could save. For, Frost Giant or no, whether that had also been a hidden lie of his existence back home, Tony…

Tony would always love him. Wouldn't he?

The way Loki finds his way back to Midgard is on the opposite side of the Avenging Warriors. It galls him to be taking Innus' place in this universe, but he supposes it is worth it. A familiar song blasts out of the hovering behemoth of metal, and those familiar shooting stars come out of nowhere in Germany, knocking him to the ground. They sear his chestplate even as they make it ache, and Loki can do nothing but force himself back to his feet, stare at the mechanical battle suit encasing Tony and acquiesce.

Loki can't raise a hand against him. It hurts too much to see him alive – to see him, and know Tony remembers nothing. No one else has, except for Hela, but still Loki had hoped some shred of what they had had remained. Loki walks quietly into their hold, allows himself to be 'taken prisoner'. He knows his mission, and the Wolf watches from deep in the cosmos, tugging on the strings of his mind. The Wolf doesn't need to make Loki sit and watch Thor and Tony's scuffle in the forest; the fractured part of him easily laughs at the ridiculousness of it all.

Once Tony is out of sight, Loki is back to all business and he notices Tony doesn't visit him in the cage meant for the beast. He has plenty of visitors; the beast's keeper knew well enough to avoid him, from that single glance in the hallway, but the small deadly assassin with hair as shockingly red as any from Muspelheim (Widow, but she doesn't know him anymore) and the tall, demanding man in the long black coat (Director, who is now only suspicious of him) just can't stay away.

Loki plays them all; engineers his escape, and heads to New York to set up his portal. He doesn't enter Tony's penthouse, doesn't allow himself to dwell; this is what he must do, here, he has no choice, not with the Wolf holding sway over his mind. Perhaps it was Loki's lingering attachment to Tony that made the Wolf choose Stark Tower as the epicenter of the portal; Loki will never know how deeply the Wolf could scratch into his psyche.

Perhaps that is why the Wolf had had Loki throw Tony through the same window through which Loki had first observed sky scrapers.

But the invasion fails, and Loki feels sweet relief beyond the excruciating pain of the Beast beating him into the hard marble floor of Tony's penthouse. He lies there, unable to move as his bones knit themselves back together. He listens to the sounds of battle outside; Loki can hear everyone's comments over the communication devices linked back to Stark Tower's mainframe; Jarvis' security protocols have the same passwords as in his memories. Loki closes his eyes as Tony cuts off, feeling his heart in his throat; is this how it ends?

There is an explosion of sound as the battle suit falls out of the closing portal – he knows by an exclamation from Hawk – and there is a tense silence before then Loki hears Tony's voice. He doesn't even hear the words, just knows it's him, and that's enough.

They return to the penthouse just as Loki begins to move, to push himself up, and he has to muster a smile up at them, however self-depreciating. He flicks a look towards Tony, just happy they're both still alive; they're all still alive.

Thor takes him back to Asgard and Loki is imprisoned, despite Thor's impassioned pleas (in private) that Loki had not been himself, during the invasion. That much is true, but anything of the sort out of his own mouth will only convince the Odin of this universe that he has Thor in thrall. Loki is deeply resentful and saddened by the deteriorated relationship with the Allfather, but – just as everything else in this version of events – it cannot be changed, now. So Loki plays his part with bravado and slippery daggers of words, and sits and rots in a jail cell while Frigga is murdered by Malekith and his Kursed bodyguard. (Frigga instead of Thor, in this lifetime.)

Loki fakes his own death, and becomes king of Asgard. Now in a position of power, he allows Thor the choice to become king. By some odd twist of fate, his brother has become infatuated with a mortal woman, in this life. Loki cannot begrudge him that, and so he allows Thor his choice, and lets Thor go back to her, all the while silently impressing Loki with his humility. His Thor had only gained humbleness after becoming king. It is somewhat reassuring to know that will always be a lesson Thor learns.

Loki remembers Tony, but dare not show his face again on Midgard, lest he be recognized. The years pass agonizingly slow; this time he keeps track. Barely two years after the invasion, Loki leaves a copy to act as Odin in his place. He hates to say it, but with Frigga dead it is easier to play Odin – she would have found him out with a single glance.

He goes to Malibu, honing in on the familiar hum of power from the star – the arc reactor, he knows the correct terminology after two years living with Tony's technological babbling – embedded in Tony's chest. Loki lands on a street; invisible, of course. It is nearly deserted. There might have been a glimmer of light from the teleportation, for Tony squints in his direction. Loki can't help but hold his breath, but Tony looks away again, giving no sign of having seen anything after all.

The next time they run into each other, it is Tony who approaches Loki while he is reading a book in a coffee shop. They exchange what passes for pleasantries, for them, and Loki finds himself enjoying it. There are nuanced differences; this Tony does not treat him as a lover, but the lingering looks are still there and give Loki hope that perhaps not all has changed, even when so much already has. Tony leaves, allowing Loki to mull over his thoughts in private. (He exits the café at once, of course, lest Tony try to pin down his energy signature with a scan from Jarvis.)

The tryst is a mistake; is Loki giving into temptation. Truly, he had not gone to the club to seek out Tony. Less truly, Loki had known it was Tony he was seducing; of course he had. Still, he had done it. He had relished it, had lost himself in it, had pounded out a hundred and more years of frustration in one night. In the morning, Loki realized with dread how easy it had been; how meaningless. Tony had been his for a night, but that would never be enough.

Never again. A 'one-time thing', as Tony had said, no matter how his eyes had flickered with conflict as they shook hands. It was and is not in Loki's nature to reveal all; he smothered the temptation with ease, and disappeared, intending never to contact Tony again. But resolve is a hard thing to come by; after barely over a year of trying to figure out the Wolf's agenda, Loki is greeted by… another Loki. He knows instantly that this is an imposter, but has no means to prove it. As such, Loki greets him back as this universe's Odin would; with a heavy amount of suspicion. It is easy to convey, as that is what Loki actually feels towards him.

The fake calls for a conference, with delegates from each realm, and Loki grudgingly grants him that. It is a good idea, and it is an excuse to extend an invitation to Midgard, as well. Loki knows Tony will not pass up such a curiosity-tempting opportunity, as the only mortal to have set foot on Asgard in all its long history is Jane Foster.

Perhaps with Tony here, Loki can protect him this time.

Perhaps they must not always be doomed.